Can you land a 744 safely in 1800 meters?
 

I am asking this question in this column because I am hoping to get some expert answers. The reason is because Qantas VH-OJA a 747-400 is about to be retired in to an aircraft museum located at Wollongong airport south of Sydney NSW Aus. The airport has a PAPI to runway 18 with small hills rising to about 200 feet at the end with no run off, makes it the only direction to land safely. Elevation is about 30 feet, runway lenght is 1800 meters.
I have no idea about performance figures but should I expect a few blown tyres on landing?

Article in local news here.

No worries, apparently :)

Yes, with the right conditions. Cambridge, EGSC, sometimes receives BA 747s for maintenance, so they arrive at a low weight. Landing distances on the runway there are 1635m on 05 and 1747m on 23.

SAA Lebombo ZS-SAN was landed at Rand International Airport in 2004, which has a runway of less than 1500 metres.

At 200T the landing distance on a dry runway, with no headwind is less than 1200m so it would have no problems.

I have landed one on 23 at Cambridge and it was no drama at all.

Didn't they fly a 743 or 742 into a strip roughly the same size in South Africa?
Spectacular landing caught on video.

Or, if all else fails:

http://cellar.org/2004/747canals.jpg

Boeing Dreamlifter managed it accidentally :ok:

That reminds me a rumour that did the rounds about Cambridge, a 744 and the use of thrust reversers....actually on second thoughts, it must just have been a rumour :oh::oh:

put simply...yes!

G'day ;)

Thanks IGh :ok:

I was familiar with the story, but didn't know there was an actual video of the incident.

They sent a 747 into Longreach without any obvious issues!

I'm wondering if the interior will be stripped of seats, galleys and IFE components. This will lighten it by a few tonnes.

The removal of blankets, pillows, safety cards, magazines, toilet paper, lifejackets, potable water, portable oxygen bottles, most door slides, etc, will also reduce the landing weight.

"They" probably look for a pilot with a low sense of self preservation to fly the ferry. :rolleyes:

According to Mr Boeing a B744, at max landing weight, can land on 6500 feet, given reasonable conditions and no serious unserviceability.

Ha ha ha! I remember that. Some very embarrassed Pilots in the debriefing later that day! :O

The 744 can do 1800m at MLW no worries.
The primary concern at YWOL will be runway width and pavement strength.

From another thread :

.....and the incompetence amazes!:ugh:

I have been in the RHS when landing at Cambridge with BA.

We landed on 23 and were almost able to vacate straight onto the taxiway into Marshalls without back track - about 1090 metres from thresh hold according to Google Earth- so had several 100's of metres to spare.

Flap 30, A/B 4, about 20 tonnes of fuel, so probably landed at about 215 tonnes, Vref about 130kts.

Regularly used to land at Melbourne 27 with about 2150 metres with pax and freight on board - quite tight but no drama.

It's often not landing on the length but taking off that can be more restrictive - this is not a consideration when the aircraft is not going to leave ever!

I always like the story of the C-97 flown into Dodgeville for retirement, a 2,800 foot dirt strip (and narrower than the landing gear track) :ooh:

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Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields: Southwestern Wisconsin