I've seen German Transall's practicing take-offs and landings on a smallish GA field in my neighbourhood with an 800 m runway, and it was absolutely effortless. They have also been said to do the same on another airfield here in the area with a 735 m grass runway.

I've flown into plenty of short strips, usually grass or dirt, in the dark, in a bigger aircraft than that, marked out with far less than that runway and I've yet to mong it as badly as that (there's still time of course).

I'm assuming they had a dispensation to ignore the displaced threshold (hence the fenced off road) however the fact they were pretty much at taxi speed abeam the PAPIS suggests that this was in no way "intentional". Too flat an approach, misjudged aim point and pilot error is what that was.

A German newspaper stated that there wouldn't be an inquiry as it was the aircraft's last flight (or aircraft type's last flight, my German's not that great).

I expect the pilot will still get a ...(insert currently PC term for female pilots getting a bollocking).

Thanks for the C-130 vid ORAC - oh for the days when what you thought up in the bar/your garage could still be tried out a a major engineering company the next day.

I'm guessing the un-PC term would be a shafting.....

'I'm assuming they had a dispensation to ignore the displaced threshold (hence the fenced off road) however the fact they were pretty much at taxi speed abeam the PAPIS suggests that this was in no way "intentional". Too flat an approach, misjudged aim point and pilot error is what that was.'

'Course it was pilot error, and who among us have not had that shaky hand bit in the pub after making an almighty cock up? (And not getting caught or dead). To err is human. I have yet to meet the perfect person.

"I expect the pilot will still get a ...(insert currently PC term for female pilots getting a bollocking)."


I was going to say ramming.

"Hans, Das ist eine sehr kurtz Startbahn!

"Ja Gunter! aber so breit!"

What's "kurtz"? D'ya mean "kurze"?:E

okay...'s been a while...

I thought he meant Kurtz, as in 'evil, bastard'

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8ZLZsV89Ns0/TI...e-now-1979.gif

T7a

My thoughts exactly;)

Touch down zone anyone...

BBK

I recall he did say that anyone who couldn't land between the piano keys and the numbers is a girl. This vid proves his point.

As a non-flyer, it looks to me that the pilot did not expect the road to be slightly higher than the runway.

Innteresting. I was under a rather large airliner when it did similar, trusting little soul, didn't even try to run...

Just another view from a different spotter

Even so, he was still undershooting the piano keys.

Never assume ... (or time spent on reconnaissance is never wasted) ;)

Did a series of freeze frames on the clip from post 35 and it shows clearly that the gear touched down after the road, but before the runway and it seems that the grass between the road and the runway is an embankment with a peak height of a metre or two above the runway height and the main gear just kisses that peak, if there was no bank the trajectory would have been on target for the threshold.....interesting perspective gotcha rather than a vanilla land-short.

rmac,

"....shows clearly that the gear touched down after the road....".

I don't think so, have a look at the second photo down here:

Plane spotting enthusiasts come within inches of death after military aircraft misses runway | Mail Online

Only 3 threads running on this incident at the moment, any chance the mods could combine them, or remove some?

Yes, agreed, that's a clearer shot, road is on the embankment and embankment got in the way of the "glide path". CFIT incident then :E