Lufthansa A320 Avoids Landing Mishap In Strong -- STRONG! --
Crosswind
Chances are good your friends have already swamped your email
Inbox with the images of a Lufthansa A320 scrapping its left
wing along the concrete at Fuhlsbuettel Airport in Hamburg,
Germany on Saturday -- evidence, caught on tape by a planespotter,
of a go-around that very nearly wasn't.
The video shows the Airbus narrowbody, inbound from Munich,
crabbing its way against a strong quartering headwind towards the
runway. The wind came courtesy of a winter storm that
brought Category 3 winds to the area, and closed several other
airports.
Things turned wonky when the pilot attempted to transition
out of the crab to land. Even as the right, upwind wing lowered,
the aircraft continued to be pushed to the left.
As the pilot attempted to straighten things out with the rudder,
the airliner smacked the runway hard on its left maingear... and
then things really got interesting, as a gust of wind lifted the
right wing, tipping the aircraft until its left wingtip hit the
pavement.
It's just after that point the video shows the engines spooling
up, and the aircraft taking flight once again... narrowly avoiding
a similar strike to its right wing in the process.
A spokesman for Lufthansa praised the flight crew's handling of
what he described as a sudden "155 mph" wind gust. "It was a dicey
situation. People were quite shaken," Wolfgang Weber told CNN. He
added the pilots performed an "absolutely professional
maneuver."
The pilot, said to be a 17-year Lufthansa veteran, reportedly
requested an alternate runway... and the aircraft landed
uneventfully about 10 minutes later. After repairs to the plane's
left wing fence, the A320 was back in service Sunday.
Germany's Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Investigation
will examine whether the airport erred in keeping the runway
active.
While some will question the crew's decision to continue the
approach in such horrendous conditions -- at one point prior to
touchdown, the aircraft appears to be crabbing at a
nearly-45-degree angle to the runway, and the airliner was buffeted
by strong winds throughout its approach -- Axel Raab, spokesman for
Deutsche Flugsicherung, which handles air traffic control
operations in Germany, said neither the flight crew nor the tower
appeared to be at fault.
"I don’t want to anticipate the results of the
investigation, but at first sight no one has anything to answer
for," Raab said.
No matter what the investigation uncovers... we suspect this is
one video that's going to be recommended viewing for all pilots for
years to come.
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