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Rocky Raab or other pilots
calrugerfan
Member Posts: 18,209 ✭
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7P9OAng32F0I was watching the above video and some of the runways are not flat at all. They have rolling hills. Is there a reason for that?
Comments
The really steep hills are too problematic and cliffs are right out!
Depends on what your end goal is. [:D]
Some runways are hilly because the land they were built on was -- hilly. And it would be super-mega-holy CHIT expensive to make something two miles long perfectly level.
Crosswind landings are an exercise in skill and judgement. I especially appreciated the judgement of the one pilot who called off the landing. He did good!
One of the most important skills to to be able to plant the plane firmly on the runway at the exact moment the aircraft ceases to fly in a crosswind situation. It's not a skill that's easily acquired and not totally instinctive.
Each type of aircraft is rated for crosswind ability. Anything in excess of a given wind speed is reason to call off a landing. I've been there many times in a bug smasher C172 or C182. It's easiest to have the person on your right side calling airspeed while you on the left side coordinate everything else. Otherwise just busy will get very busy in one hell of a hurry.
Ideally you'll approach at a speed high enough to insure that you won't stall. Once over the threshold you'll power the plane to only a very few inches over the runway, then cut speed, power, and * with the intention of planting yourself firmly on the ground. * being one of those things that depend upon plane type. The intention being to dump lift at the same instant the wheels touch. Anything less may allow the plane to float. Not a good plan. So a great landing under such circumstances is one where the wheels touch with authority. Not a violent contact, but with a firm bump.
If you wish to see real skill, have a look at an aircraft with conventional (tail wheel) gear attempting to land under similar circumstances. This separates the men from the boys. It's not good form to allow the tail to get ahead of the nose.[;)] Always embarrassing and usually expensive.
The "pucker factor" must be off the chart.
I came in with my 182 and was advised by the tower to expect gusty crosswinds. They weren't kidding! Training, tricycle gear, and a lot of crosswind experience made the landing a non event. I, however, noted and reported to the tower that conditions were actually somewhat worse than they had advised. I was also aware that a Maule was setting up to land behind me and knew he was in for a dicey experience at best.
Long story short... We watched the Maule do an immediate ground loop. He did about everything wrong. Wheel landing instead of plopping the tail down at the moment the mains touched, speed above stall, * still deployed, and that big tail inviting a gust of wind to make for a really bad day. And it did!
Wing tip damage, passenger main wheel folded under, and I expect upholstery in need of cleaning. No injuries but the plane towed off the field. The sad part is that Maule could have actually landed crossways to the runway if he really had to set it down. We don't all have that luxury of course.
It's all about transition and understanding that under certain circumstances the seamless transition between flight and landing is not the goal. There are times when one should aspire to cease flight a few inches above the runway with the intention of planting those wheels very firmly on the ground. Ideally the aircraft will be ground-bound at this point and not have lift enough to try to regain flight.
http://youtu.be/Hzhrvq7V6W0
Raw red dirt strip less than 100 meters long, perched on a spine of rock, sheer drop at both ends, jungle both sides. The Air America pilot was GOOD - and he'd done similar things a few hundred times.
Brought it in with everything hanging, max power and just barely hanging on the stall. Darn near hovered it in the high winds, and just dropped it in the last foot or so. No way in hell do do a go-around if the wind dropped for a second; he'd have impacted the cliff.
Getting it back out was simpler. Head it downhill (regardless of wind direction), scream the engine and pop the brakes. When you hit the end, you just fall off the cliff until you reach flyable speed.
Well... Maybe not quite, but close.
Air America? I saw that. What a rush! No room for error.
We couldn't do anything like that in our O-2s. We were always high, hot, overgross, and with draggy rocket pods. I could stop one in 600-700 feet, but takeoff was a different feline. Field elevation 4,650' and >90?F. I rolled one 5500 feet down that runway one night 1,000 pounds over gross and only got airborne because I bounced off rocks at the and of the far overrun. How I missed the trees in the dark will forever be a mystery.
"That would be Birmingham, England! Been there a bunch of times with Arrow Air in the DC-8 and USair in the B-767. The real fun doesn't start until you get the nosewheel on the ground. That's when the "Gran Prix" starts. The Airbus doesn't like heavy crosswinds like that. You set up by setting the auto brakes on medium spoilers to auto, keep your feet on the floor so you can fly that rudder and hope you don't catch the downwind engine nacelle!!!!! "
That was a turbine Porter. That thing could get off the ground from one side of a narrow sidewalk to the other and likely clear a 50' barrier 50' away!
Well... Maybe not quite, but close.
Air America? I saw that. What a rush! No room for error.
Yeah, that scene with Mel Gibson landing uphill was great. That didn't look like CG, so "someone" had to do it for the camera. [:D] That would have been a fun ride along.