Cross wind landings in the recent storm(s)

SlowBlowin

Hi

I flew from Kerry to Dublin today at 12:30 (Aer Lingus). I have made this flight about 30 times before, but today was the best fun.

Taking off from Kerry into the wind the plane (21 on board) just floated up so early in take off. It was quite bumpy and a fast flight, we took the approach over the sea into Dublin, and things got very bumpy. As we got over land on the approach and near the graveyards the plane was really being tossed around, then as we got over the perimeter a huge gust just took the plane away like it was made of paper. The pilot straightened her up and climbed away but had to make continual corrections to cope with the wind.

The second time was not much better, same approach, and same thing over the graveyards, but although the cross winds were bad he stuck to it and put her down. I was sitting right at the back and got a great view of the how far off straight and level we were, I would love to see a photo of it, must have looked cool. The pilot focused on getting the plane tracking down the runway, and was really late braking and reverse pitch.

He did a grand job !!

As I walked past the cockpit I gave him the thumbs up and got a big smile.

Anyone else had any cool landings in these storms ?

SB

flazio

Glad you enjoyed the ride and fair play to the pilot for getting you down.
Was this an Aer Arann/Aer Lingus Regional flight in a prop plane? I notice they have been having more trouble then most in this weather.

scudzilla

flazio wrote: »

Glad you enjoyed the ride and fair play to the pilot for getting you down.
Was this an Aer Arann/Aer Lingus Regional flight in a prop plane? I notice they have been having more trouble then most in this weather.

Hoping so as the mother in law is going on one on Thursday

SlowBlowin

Yes it was an Are Lingus regional flight on the smaller of the twin props.

The woman across from me was crying the second time round, but I enjoyed the ride (plane not woman).

Strumms

Coming back from AMS last week and it was bumpy as **** on an EI A320 Pilots did a great job of getting us down first time although I believe we got in during somewhat of a lull comparatively speaking. After about 40 minutes of a non eventful flight the seatbelt signs were still illuminated. I was wondering why until over Middle England we started getting shunted all over the place at 36,000 ft. Which continued very late into the approach. The lady in the aisle seat was almost in tears... My mate in the middle seat had his IPad out playing some very basic flight sim which he kept making crash to the sea on purpose much to the poor woman's anguish.. He is such a twat.

SlowBlowin

Thats funny Strumms, made me laugh, but your right a little bit twatish.... but funny none the less.

Be nice if the pilot of that ATR plane would come on here and comment.

SB

keith16

Flew on a tiny yoke from Athens to Santorini once. The winds were very high and we were all over the place coming into land. Landed very hard and had a bounce.

There was only me, my wife and about 5 others on the flight, everyone was white as a sheet but I could barely contain my laughter. Bit of coping mechanism I guess.

Still doesn't sound as bad as your experience today OP, thanks for sharing!

I think in general, PAX perhaps over-react to turbulence thinking it's worse than it actually is (not saying you are OP!).

radar0976

Some nice work by Aer Lingus A320 crews in Cork yesterday afternoon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXbbsC7zvyY

Bessarion

keith16 wrote: »

I think in general, PAX perhaps over-react to turbulence thinking it's worse than it actually is (not saying you are OP!).

Its a familiarity thing. The majority of passengers may only fly 2-4 times a year. So hearing them state "that was the worst I ever experienced" is a bit different from hearing a 2-4 times a week commuter say that same thing.

Now I am not belittling their opinion but it is just that. They may get very unsettled amid moderate turbulence while the vet beside them remains asleep.

A very simple scale of severity for flyers is to watch the cabin crew.
Service continues? No bother, regardless of your personal feelings.
Service suspended? Moderate to severe forecast. Could be purely precautionary.
Cabin crew told to strap in? Severe turbulence expected. (May not happen, again caution is the first pan of action)

martinsvi

Bessarion wrote: »

A very simple scale of severity for flyers is to watch the cabin crew.
Service continues? No bother, regardless of your personal feelings.
Service suspended? Moderate to severe forecast. Could be purely precautionary.
Cabin crew told to strap in? Severe turbulence expected. (May not happen, again caution is the first pan of action)

Couldn't put it any better, I use the same scale!

Story in t2 is that on one of the worst days, most of the heavies from the states diverted after aborted landing attempts. The only heavy from the States to make it in was the US Airways from Philedelphia, and when the door opened & the pilots disembarked, Captain was heard to say "Whoo-ee, best fun I had in years! Haven't had a landing like that since I was catching carrier wires in the Navy!"

SlowBlowin

Agreed.

I have flown this route every 2 weeks for the past 2 years, and it was the most fun I have had.

The biggest bump though was a Ryan Air 737 into Kerry in perfect weather, the plane was put down so hard I thought it must have set off some sort of alarm.

SB

Cessna_Pilot

SlowBlowin wrote: »

Agreed.

I have flown this route every 2 weeks for the past 2 years, and it was the most fun I have had.

The biggest bump though was a Ryanair 737 into Kerry in perfect weather, the plane was put down so hard I thought it must have set off some sort of alarm.

SB

I always aim to put it down "hard" in Kerry

kub

radar0976 wrote: »

Some nice work by Aer Lingus A320 crews in Cork yesterday afternoon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXbbsC7zvyY

To any pilots out there, is it true that as airports go that Cork is a tough one to land in?

Growler!!!

kub wrote: »

To any pilots out there, is it true that as airports go that Cork is a tough one to land in?

Cork is no more difficult to land in than any other airport.
The perception it is difficult mainly comes in the fact that when it's foggy, there are also quite strong winds. Bristol has a similar problem.

Each airport has its little gotcha's.

SlowBlowin

Hi

Whats the pilots view on Kerry airport ?

I know theres not much room near the terminal, this chap came a bit close.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8V76xMfgvY&list=PL67AC8DDC3A444B59&index=30&feature=plpp_video

SB

Alun

Bessarion wrote: »

Cabin crew told to strap in? Severe turbulence expected. (May not happen, again caution is the first pan of action)

I was on a flight over the Atlantic once where not only were the cabin crew told to take their seats immediately, the passengers were ordered to throw any hot drinks they had just been served onto the floor. It wasn't nice