The bogey main wheels on the A330/ A340 hang trailing wheels first. If you try to land smoothly on the rear mains and then hold off the front mains will come down heavily. Therefore the best technique for a smooth landing on these machines is to do what the auto pilot does and that is to touch down on the rear mains then pitch down quite quickly to bring the front mains on to the ground smoothly while you still have some speed, without smacking the nose gear down. Then smoothly touch the nose gear down.

Maybe this pilot tried that but overcooked the pitch down?

... or maybe the other pilot thought he was going to hit the nose gear hard when the nose pitched down and pulled his stick back to the accompaniment of 'Priority Right', 'Priority Left', 'Priority Right', etc.! :}

Reference your last sentence: On (a manual) touchdown the airbus is in 'Direct Law' (flight control law). Therefore the pilot has total control and there will not be any 'what's it doing now?' moment. During the approach it will be in 'Normal Law' which means the aircraft will fly keeping a 1G loading. This means that increased thrust with underslung engines does not result in a nose up and decreased thrust does not result in a nose down. Otherwise the pilot has full control.

LEARNING THE HARD WAY
 

Just yesterday on approach to GCXO, runway 30 in use. Encountered sudden drop of airspeed at 150 ft, autothrust engaged, managed speed. Wind from the West, gusting to 20 kts, clear skies. Increased manual N1, spool up time just delivering when mains slammed unto the tarmac on the 900 ft marker, bounced about ten feet I reckon, plenty of runway, expletives and more, managed to stay on centerline, reversers,exiting on C2 red faced but appreciative of another mega lesson learnt landing a big jet, A 330/300 at Tenerife North.

Did you make an announcement or did you stay quiet?

Not familiar with a "cabin not secure for landing". Always thought they were securely attached! Has any one ever lost one during a landing considering they do follow behind fairly closely.!

Yes, I made a little speech to the passengers and also a report to tower, as should be expected.

AOA display would go a long way toward precluding this, methinks. :eek:

[QUOTE=Flap 5]
Ummm, but with most reputable airlines, that decision is made at 1000 feet AGL. If the cabin is not ready then, the aircraft goes-around from that point.

In this case - from such a low altitude - I would tend to believe that it was something other than the cabin not being ready.