Author Topic: Too high on approach (Read 1502 times)

Howitzer · « **on:** March 18, 2005, 12:08:35 PM »

I'm bored today so I thought I'd share this and see if anyone has a similar experience.

I was on my way to Atlanta last week, and the flight was mostly uneventful. Then we are on approach for landing, I hear the gear come down, and I look out of the window and can kinda see where the runway starts and the little voice in my head that is WAY to used to watching me play AH says: "I think we are too high to land gently". Being that my only aeronautical experience comes from this game and the endless hours I've wasted playing that I will surely never get back, I brush it off with a: "Shut up stupid, you don't know anything, you can't even land a seafire on a carrier. This guy gets paid money to land this behemoth".

So as more runway passes by, I can see the black skid marks, and I'm still thinking we are high because we are nowhere near touching down yet, but I still shrug it off. Next thing I know, the pilot must've realized it to and pushed the stick down because we hit so hard I swear my twig and berries are still lodged somewhere in my nasal canal. How we didn't flatten a tire is beyond me.

And to cap it off, the landing on the return trip was just about as bad... We were also stuck on the plane for a minute because the little bridge thingy that connects to the terminal wasn't ready, so I was watching the baggage people unload the plane. That is a fun time... if you've never seen it, I'd recommend it. The highlight was when the lady grabbed this bright orange cooler marked "BIOHAZARD" and tossed it like a sack of potatoes from the conveyor belt onto the blacktop where it slid about 5 feet before coming to an abrupt yet violent stop on the tire of the little tractor thing that hauls the luggage around. Fantastic

JB73 · « **Reply #1 on:** March 18, 2005, 12:14:00 PM »

depending on the approach, Atlanta is a kind of freak airport to fly into.

(dad lives in atl, and i have flow into there probably 15 times)

comming over the one set of warehouses there is ALWAYS some turbulence / winds that throw the plane all over.

if it was foggy or hazy the little drafts are worse in my experiance, maybe the pilot was trying to stay out of that stuff.

it is a little nerve racking being that close to all those power lines and buildings on approach to me, maybe it was the pilots first time comming into ATL.

im911 · « **Reply #2 on:** March 18, 2005, 12:17:24 PM »

That's nice to hear. I'm on a flight to Colorado next week and you know I'm going to fight my 4 yr old daughter for the window seat!!!

By the way, for anyone interested, good special on The Military Channel about the Blue Angels will probably be airing off and on for the next month.

Shane · « **Reply #3 on:** March 18, 2005, 12:32:44 PM »

I'd say one of the most fun approaches is down the potomac at Washington (now Ronald Reagan) National. The plane will be banking this and that way and for extra excitement you'll clearly see the faces of people looking up at you on the little viewing island.

First time I ever rode that approach I thought we were gonna crash or something based on those people looking at us and pointing.

I hear Denver is also exciting to come in to.

Ouch · « **Reply #4 on:** March 18, 2005, 12:48:11 PM »

I know just how you feel about letting someone else fly you around, even if you don't have any kind of "real life" piloting experience.

A couple of years ago there was a major crash in the Northwest due to pilot not putting the flaps out. I think icing was involved as well, but the primary cause was due to him expecting more lift than the wings generated.

About 2 months after this happened I was on a flight out of Houston IAH, seated right behind the wing. As I we started to roll, I looked out at the wing. Yep, no flaps. I kept waiting for the pilot to deploy them, but they never came out. About 2/3 of the way down the runway, my mubling of "no flaps" over and over began to annoy my wife and a couple of other passengers. The pilot got it off the runway, and I seriously thought we were going to go right back down. At this point, I guess he figured out something was wrong because suddenly the flaps popped out, and we quit wallowing around.

God I hate flying.

Ouch out

Magoo · « **Reply #5 on:** March 18, 2005, 12:49:59 PM »

LMAO shane, I landed there once. All I saw was water under the plane until I thought we were seriously going to ditch and then almost simutaneously I saw runway and heard the tires bark and felt the jolt.

Chicago airport was fun, wings wobbling to and fro in the wind, then on the same trip I flew back to Atlanta (home) and landed in the hurricane (well, between the rotating fingers of the storm). Friggin pilot got a standing ovation from the pasengers

Magoo

tkor · « **Reply #6 on:** March 18, 2005, 01:03:50 PM »

The approach path to Ronald Reagan International in Washington DC is among the most thrilling and tricky. Following the Potomac at low alt is one of the few allowed approaches and is set that way because of all the restricted airspace surrounding it.
Denver is thrilling because of the altitude, but for a real thrill, fly into Aspen sometime:D
I think that Atlanta has some interesting approaches because of the noise abatement rules, which, come to think of it, affect many of the airports in or very near to metropolitan areas.

JB73 · « **Reply #7 on:** March 18, 2005, 01:10:03 PM »

last time i flew into reagan it was in the mid eighties LOL

reagan was still prez. LOL

but yeah creepy approach, especially at night.

laguardia kinda fun

JFK same, like ohare

ohare great view of the city at night.

phoenix has some really cool views comming in.

there is an approach into milwaukee that takes you pretty low over lake michican in a hard turn, as a child i thought for sure the wing was going to hit the water LOL

Aubrey · « **Reply #8 on:** March 18, 2005, 01:20:21 PM »

Philly is a treat.

Philly the first time I landed there was at night I could not tell where we were in relation to the runway no real ground refrence to help judge.

I am not a pilot so I would not know if they were doing it right or not but as we slowed down and I saw the big oil tanks next to the water, I could have sworn we were going to smash quite hard.

StarOfAfrica2 · « **Reply #9 on:** March 18, 2005, 01:22:58 PM »

Pheonix is a fun airport, and I love the views. And while the flights to Hawaii are boring as can be, the final approach and landings are always interesting no matter which airport you land at.

For me though, nothing beats coming in to Lambert in St Louis. If the cabins weren't pressurized, you could probably smell it at 20k even, but for all that, there's no place like home.

Howitzer · « **Reply #10 on:** March 18, 2005, 01:28:06 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Magoo
LMAO shane, I landed there once. All I saw was water under the plane until I thought we were seriously going to ditch and then almost simutaneously I saw runway and heard the tires bark and felt the jolt.

Chicago airport was fun, wings wobbling to and fro in the wind, then on the same trip I flew back to Atlanta (home) and landed in the hurricane (well, between the rotating fingers of the storm). Friggin pilot got a standing ovation from the pasengers

Magoo

Well its ok if you ditch because you only lose half of your perk points, but if you crash, then that is another story =)

SFCHONDO · « **Reply #11 on:** March 18, 2005, 02:01:11 PM »

You want interesting Flying, I suggest flying in a C-130 in Alaska. I was stationed there for 5 years and some of the dinky places we landed in some extremely crappy weather was interesting at best. God I miss it....LOL

dedalos · « **Reply #12 on:** March 18, 2005, 02:20:14 PM »

I got 2 for you. Flying into LaGuardia seems to be a controlled crash latelly

Now try looking out the windows when landing at the old Athens airport. The end of the runway is a few feet by the water. The effect is a lot better when you come in a little low with max side wind. You keep hoping that the water will go away and the runway will apear but it does not happen until a few seconds before landing.

Octavius · « **Reply #13 on:** March 18, 2005, 02:28:57 PM »

We had a Northwest regional jet (think it was a CRJ) hit a patch of ice on the main N/S runway at General Mitchell Int'l in Milwaukee last week. As it was braking past the ice, it veered off the runway, into a shallow ditch and back out on to the taxi way. The nose gear was bent to hell, and the pilot bravely taxi'd to the gate, which was now 30 yards away after almost skidding into it!

Two weeks back, a US Airways Embraer 145 did the same thing, but stopped in a ditch. They had to tow it back to the gate. I saw that one happen

I see a ton of pilots blow their approaches and scream off for another circuit. Newer pilots flying Midwest Connect (Skyway) Dornier 328s and Beech 1900s seem to be glorified bus drivers

. Talked to one co-pilot who wasn't even sure of their destination 10 minutes before departure!

Kutt · « **Reply #14 on:** March 18, 2005, 02:31:58 PM »

I was coming home, and my flight was on final to MCO (Orlando). The flight I was on pumped Air Traffic Control through a channel on the headset that we passengers could listen to.

The flight was transferred over to Orlando's Tower and our Captain identified herself and informed the tower she was on final on runway 18L.

The problem was, she was talking to the wrong airport. She quickly apologized and found the correct freq for the Orlando Tower and we landed safely.

I could not help but smile though. She had requested a landing at Sanford Airport. This airport does receive some comercial jet traffic, but there are several aviation schools there.

I had this picture of a noob pilot in a Cessna frantically "checking his 6" for the Heavy bearing down on him while he was making his approach.

I guess pilots screw up like we all do at our jobs. It just gets a whole lot more exciting when they do though.