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View Full Version : German passenger jet just avoids crash - Wing touches runway - Video

Chief
03-03-2008, 06:13 AM
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ddb_1204404185

This heart-in-mouth clip of a Lufthansa passenger plane attempting a landing in Hamburg in gale-force winds surfaced this morning. Coming after the Heathrow crash landing in January, it makes for terrifying viewing.

After fighting to keep the wings level in the approach, the pilot managed to touch the wheels down before another gust tilted the aircraft around 30 degrees, causing one wing to hit the runway.

Fearing the plane would crash if he continued with the landing, the pilot took off immediately.

A Lufthansa spokesman praised the pilot: "He was braced for a difficult landing and quickly brought the situation under control."

He added: "The damage was not as bad as we expected. The wing was damaged but it could be repaired."

The plane, which was carrying 131 passengers and four crew at the time of the near-accident on Saturday, is expected to be back in service later today.


Talk about your pucker factors! I'm betting it took a while to clean the interior of that plane out...
Waterbuffalo
03-03-2008, 06:45 PM
Just finished the video! WOW! I don't think I could record the video or sit in a plane landing like that one.


Wonder if SEA or PDX ever have these wind problems?
Chief
03-04-2008, 04:50 AM
The evening News last night said that there was a severe wind storm in progress and that just as he touched down, he caught a gust of over 100 MPH, and that's what rocked him to the left like that.

It took a skilled pilot to recover from that because low and slow in that kind of crosswind is not a great flight regime to be in...
Waterbuffalo
03-04-2008, 07:11 AM
Luckily PDX is in a River Like Gorge. Mt. Tabor and the Portland Hills to the south. Mt. Helens and Cascades along Camas/Washougal to the North and East.

I'd say it make for a perfect type of place to land planes most of the time when the wind comes out of the east on a steady pace most of the times of the year. So taking off in a heavy East Wind allows one to take off towards the Gorge if they need to.
Chief
03-04-2008, 01:31 PM
Did you know that Portland's first Airport was on Swan Island??
Waterbuffalo
03-04-2008, 07:09 PM
no?

So it would have had the same or similar flight trajectories as Pearson Field?

Interesting.. I know one of the first mail carrier planes took off the Multnomah Building to Vancouver. There was such a big media event about 5 to 10 years ago??