Is this a photo of an aircraft landing or taking off?
 

Photos: Airbus A330-343X Aircraft Pictures | Airliners.net

The reason I ask, is that if it's landing, then where's all the smoke from the friction of the rubber against tarmac?

If it's taking off, then how could the forward wheels on the bogies stopped spinning so quickly?

My guess would be landing, as the fwd wheele on this bogie would still be spinning until landing gear retract selected, which would NOT be the case while the aft wheeles of the bogie still in contact with runway sufface. As for the puff of smoke, it may have been a few frames earlier or the landing was as they say "greaser".:ok:

Landing.
1) Smoke is to the right of the picture (not visible in this frame)
2) N/A, but if it was taking off, the takeoff was performed with the handbrake on. :}
[edit] Awesome photo. Impeccable timing, or maybe just lucky.

Definitely landing!

Watch YouTube - Thomas Cook A330 Landing @ Manchester

As you can see, when the 330 lands the aircraft momentarily is only supporteb by the rear wheels for quite a distance after touchdown, before the full main undercarriage makes contact. Therefore, for such a close up shot, the smoke would have been left far behind. My guess is that this aircraft had touched down 2-3 seconds prior to the picture being taken. Almost all A330 landings you look up will have similar landings.

GE

Landing. No doubt about it. No spin on foward wheels.

and the answer is: Landing!

http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/2500/hbjhb.jpg

http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/2636/hbjhb1.jpg

http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/1564/hbjhb2.jpg

regards from ZRH :)

Sandro

Does every landing have to have smoke? I seem to very rarely see it. Like every landing in the movies just has to have that 'Eeeek' sound as the wheels touchdown. In fact, never ever in my 40 years mixing it with big jets have I EVER heard that bloody sound! Despite trying. It must be one of those Hollywood inventions that no movie landing can now be without. I wonder how they create it? And the worst part of it all, there is some saddo sound engineer watching the rushes with his 'Eeeek' machine trying to time it just right so the stupid movie goes out with the 'Eeeek' in just the right place where it doesn't occur anyway. Has the world gone utterly mad, or totally dumbed down?

I'd be surprised if you could make a rubber surface go from 0 to 140kts by rubbing it with concrete without making a bit of a 'puff'! Have never heard the 'eeek' sound either, but usually because the FO is screaming (again!)

I'm with Rainboe on this pretend noises business. Electronics from elevator displays to laptops being used to plant viruses on alien spaceships always bleep every time a light comes on or a character appears on the screen.

And squealing car tyres on grass.

Ever heard the line 'you shouldn't believe everything you see in a movie?'

Except cartoons. They're all true.

Interesting point, rainboe.

The most common sound when a bird touches ground is the dry plop, as the tyre air compresses and the rubber frictions on concrete for a snatch before starting to roll:

File-Upload.net - plop.mp3

Another common sound is a short eek-eek when the main gears touch ground (might be more present on crosswind-ish conditions):

File-Upload.net - eekeek.mp3

One of the first words our son spoke was "Boomps". Took forever to deduce that he was referring to an aircrafts undercarriage. The word came from the sound of tyre meeting tarmac.

Staying on Hollywood, was watching Air Force One the other day and one scene almost made me vomit my dinner out ! There is a scene where the 747 has just landed and the hijackers yank the a/c off the runway at HIGH SPEEDS onto the GRASS PATCH and the a/c still goes ! It can even steer 45 degree corners at high speeds. And it then pitches up and takes off all within a 30 metre space clearing a C17 or a C5 infront of it.
I understand it is a movie, but if these guys can spend multi-million dollars on their movies, can't they find a spot within their budget to hire a aviation consultant to make things more realistic ?:)

leewan, you jest, surely.
Aviation in movies mimicking reality? :eek:

Great photos, Sandro!

Well, Sandro's photos in sequence of the actual event confirms it! Landing it is! And what awesome photos they are Sandro. Are you a professional photographer?

Thanks all for your feedback on this. It'll make in ideal question for a pilots' trivia night, I'm sure. :)

As for the following comment;

I can assure you that when I've landed a C172, I have heard this sound a few times in the past. They're usually fast greasers that make this sound. May be the airliners that you guys fly don't make this sound because you more or less plonk them down on the touch down zone without much flaring, unlike the C172 where a good flare and landing is poetry in motion. :)

- now you do - feast your eyes! Of course, it's all photo-shopped - even the nosewheels.
YouTube - Aircraft Landing at Manchester Airport.

As julie says, providing you are a bit nearer the wheels with half-reasonable hearing you will even hear an 'eeek' (but not on grass) - 'poetry in motion'. I would guess that being behind a closed window on the first floor of a 747 means you probably will not.

I had a student land me in a Jet Provost with the brakes on on his pre-solo check - yes, I'm sure I heard an 'eeek' - I might even have uttered one.

Has anyone checked out the flap setting?

Giveaway really.....

You can see a flap setting on the original picture? X-Ray vision? :D