Myanmar Airlines plane lands on its nose
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Nice landing. I would expect him to have not used reverse as it would put more load on the nose and with possibility of engine nacelles touching may have wanted engines at idle or even off asap to aid evacuation. Not sure what's in his checklist for that. Long way down from the back doors.....
Speaking from experience, I can assure everyone that no sane pilot would even contemplate turning off the runway in a case like this. First of all, why? what for? A blocked runway is no concern of yours, you are concerned with landing a damaged aeroplane and not damaging it (or the occupants, of which you are one) any more than you have to. Diversions to others are the last thing you should be thinking of. In my case I refused the secondary runway with a significant crosswind that I was offered and insisted on the into wind duty one, transatlantic traffic diverting is no concern of mine so let ATC sort that out, it's their problem, not yours. As it was they used the runway I'd originally been offered, as ATC should have organised in the first place.
You are extremely aware that there is no nosewheel steering and although the QRH may tell you 'rudder is effective down to XXKts you still don't want a swing to develop with considerably compromised directional control even at 60Kts. Your sole aim in life once down is to keep it straight.
You know the most important thing is to make a good touchdown and hold the nose off until the last possible moment to lower it (not let it fall) onto the runway.
Why would you want to use reversers with all the attendant extra damage the engines would recieve on a 4000m runway? The wheelbrakes are more than capable, indeed you'd probably coast to a stop little more than halfway down with no brakes at all. Even on a 2500m runway I'd be reluctant to deploy them unlesss the situation or the QRH required it.
Centreline. You stay off the centreline not to avoid damage to the inset lights (bizarre idea! - why would you care a jot about them?) but to avoid having the nose of your aeroplane ripped to shreds by what is effectively a 4000m sawblade. That line of lights (which may or may not be inset) is an intimidating sight on short finals, I can tell you. As are the other in-runway light housings, you try to avoid them too if poss.
You know there is nothing to hit so damage to the aircraft is extremely unlikely as long as you stay on the runway so fire really isn't much of a consideration at all, just don't let the nose slam down and it's all a bit of a non-event as dramatic looking events go. Because dramatic looking is about all it is unless you mishandle it.
Nothing's different from a normal landing (except a momentary thought of "no pressure then" at 300feet until you're rolling happily along on the main gear with the column slowly coming back and back, and then you relax the pull a bit and realise the nose down attitude is quite substantial, surprisingly so - the threshold is almost obscured by the sun blind - then the white noise of metal on a grindstone and keep it straight, straight, straight.
Then you do the necessary things, evacuate and realise that by far the most serious hazard of the whole business is avoiding getting any of your pax flattened by the roaring mechanical cavalry charge of fire engines thunderning down the runway at you in line abreast and a big impenetrable pall of black diesel smoke. Now that was scary.
You hug the cabin crew, tell them they did good and send them off to accompany the pax until they are no longer needed and see you later in the crew room!
Eventually they put a strop under the nose and the crane begins to lift it, and the nosewheel stays firmly on the ground as the noseleg slowly deploys, and finally locks down with an audible clack, and you wonder if the Chief Pilot is going to believe your story after all...
All the accolade I got was a bottle of wine, and it didn't even make the local papers, let alone front pages in Rangoon!
You are extremely aware that there is no nosewheel steering and although the QRH may tell you 'rudder is effective down to XXKts you still don't want a swing to develop with considerably compromised directional control even at 60Kts. Your sole aim in life once down is to keep it straight.
You know the most important thing is to make a good touchdown and hold the nose off until the last possible moment to lower it (not let it fall) onto the runway.
Why would you want to use reversers with all the attendant extra damage the engines would recieve on a 4000m runway? The wheelbrakes are more than capable, indeed you'd probably coast to a stop little more than halfway down with no brakes at all. Even on a 2500m runway I'd be reluctant to deploy them unlesss the situation or the QRH required it.
Centreline. You stay off the centreline not to avoid damage to the inset lights (bizarre idea! - why would you care a jot about them?) but to avoid having the nose of your aeroplane ripped to shreds by what is effectively a 4000m sawblade. That line of lights (which may or may not be inset) is an intimidating sight on short finals, I can tell you. As are the other in-runway light housings, you try to avoid them too if poss.
You know there is nothing to hit so damage to the aircraft is extremely unlikely as long as you stay on the runway so fire really isn't much of a consideration at all, just don't let the nose slam down and it's all a bit of a non-event as dramatic looking events go. Because dramatic looking is about all it is unless you mishandle it.
Nothing's different from a normal landing (except a momentary thought of "no pressure then" at 300feet until you're rolling happily along on the main gear with the column slowly coming back and back, and then you relax the pull a bit and realise the nose down attitude is quite substantial, surprisingly so - the threshold is almost obscured by the sun blind - then the white noise of metal on a grindstone and keep it straight, straight, straight.
Then you do the necessary things, evacuate and realise that by far the most serious hazard of the whole business is avoiding getting any of your pax flattened by the roaring mechanical cavalry charge of fire engines thunderning down the runway at you in line abreast and a big impenetrable pall of black diesel smoke. Now that was scary.
You hug the cabin crew, tell them they did good and send them off to accompany the pax until they are no longer needed and see you later in the crew room!
Eventually they put a strop under the nose and the crane begins to lift it, and the nosewheel stays firmly on the ground as the noseleg slowly deploys, and finally locks down with an audible clack, and you wonder if the Chief Pilot is going to believe your story after all...
All the accolade I got was a bottle of wine, and it didn't even make the local papers, let alone front pages in Rangoon!
That may well be just a camera angle thing.
I would still like to see exactly where he ended up, just for my own interest.
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Myanmar
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One first hand information from a friend who was on the first morning leg starting from Yangon.
After they took off from Yangon, the pilot made an announcement they had a landing gear problem. They immediately landed back to Yangon.
My friend then disembark (which was safe call considering how blur is the maintenance quality here)
The plane finally took off and later on landed on its nose in Mandalay.
After they took off from Yangon, the pilot made an announcement they had a landing gear problem. They immediately landed back to Yangon.
My friend then disembark (which was safe call considering how blur is the maintenance quality here)
The plane finally took off and later on landed on its nose in Mandalay.
