I don't believe the autopilot would have done a damn bit of good.
The real question is why the tower gave permission to land under those conditions. The place should have been shut down as unsafe and the plane diverted elsewhere.
I was on a tour flight in a single prop plane that took off and landed in a crosswind. Of course we were going much slower and the wind wasn't blowing that hard but the approach angle was about the same. The take-off was interesting, he pulled the nose up, then turned it into the wind with the rear wheels still on the runway. Once he was nose into the wind he pulled the whole plane up.
The winds were running 30knots gusting to *55*, and directly across the runway. And he touched down during a heavy gust. And yes, the Airbus 320's maximum safe crosswind is around 30-35knots.
Other aircraft were using Hamburg's other runway at the time, with a much lower crosswind component. It's been speculated that he chose that runway because it offers a navigation aid that he preferred.
4 comments:
the captain must have known what the runway conditions were...why then wasn't the autopilot used? Or was it was inop.
I don't believe the autopilot would have done a damn bit of good.
The real question is why the tower gave permission to land under those conditions. The place should have been shut down as unsafe and the plane diverted elsewhere.
I was on a tour flight in a single prop plane that took off and landed in a crosswind. Of course we were going much slower and the wind wasn't blowing that hard but the approach angle was about the same. The take-off was interesting, he pulled the nose up, then turned it into the wind with the rear wheels still on the runway. Once he was nose into the wind he pulled the whole plane up.
The pilot may well lose his license over this.
The winds were running 30knots gusting to *55*, and directly across the runway. And he touched down during a heavy gust. And yes, the Airbus 320's maximum safe crosswind is around 30-35knots.
Other aircraft were using Hamburg's other runway at the time, with a much lower crosswind component. It's been speculated that he chose that runway because it offers a navigation aid that he preferred.
Bad judgement all around.
Even if he did save the plane. Or most of it.
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