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Just flew a Max from Denver to Mexico City a couple days back. It was mostly uneventful, but as we were preparing to land the aircraft banked hard to the left
by brandall10 2y ago
Just flew a Max from Denver to Mexico City a couple days back.
It was mostly uneventful, but as we were preparing to land the aircraft banked hard to the left and began to experience something akin to this...like it hit a sudden pocket of turbulence at the apex of the turn and began to pogo around.
It was minor and far from inducing damage to the vehicle, but in that moment remembered where I was while clenching my body for a few nervous seconds until we eased out of the turn.
- ttymck 2y agoDo you fly to Mexico city often? The altitude makes landings unusually eventful.
- brandall10 2y agoThis is my third time and I'm familiar with altitude weirdness having lived in Denver for several years, that rollercoaster effect. The other parts of the descent were smooth until specifically hitting its maximum bank, then it suddenly got squirrelly and then stopped as the plane began to flatten. It's as if the degree of bank was beyond the plane's limits. I've flown hundreds of times and can't recall ever experiencing something quite like this. EDIT: I just realized my original comment was written incorrectly. The plane didn't expectedly bank, it's that this started happening at the top of a hard bank.
- tracker1 2y agoI had a similar experience as a child flying into Phoenix... there were heavy storms and about 100ft from the ground, the plane just shifted to the side several hundred feet... the pilot pulled back up and had to circle around the airport for another landing approach. Kinda wild.
- dylan604 2y ago> like it hit a sudden pocket of turbulence at the apex of the turn I wonder if this could have been wind shear? Wind shear was deemed as the cause of the crash for Delta 191[0] on approach to DFW in the 1985. Lots of new equipment was installed after to detect wind shear. I wonder of MEX has that kind of equipment. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_Air_Lines_Flight_191 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_Air_Lines_Flight_191
- brandall10 2y agoPossibly, I don't think so. It happened right at the top of the bank and stopped as the plane began to ease out. There were no weather issues no other incidents of turbulence or jostling around. It seemed as if the plane was having problems banking at that angle.
- turrican 2y agoSounds quite a bit like wake turbulence. As planes move through the air, they leave air vortices called “wake” (much like a boat does in water). This effect is worse when airplanes are slow, like when they’re coming into land. Pilots try to avoid each other’s wake, but it’s invisible and sometimes you do hit it if the controller vectors you close behind another aircraft. It produces a strong rolling motion and can even flip small airplanes.
- jll29 2y agoI hope nobody got hurt (assume so, you may have told you otherwise). Is this something pilots get trained for how to cope with this type of incident? What happened to passengers (are they usually injured from things falling/flying around)? Boeing is getting some bad news these days, but multiple whistle-blowers in a row is the worst.
- brandall10 2y agoIt wasn't that extreme, it was what I would consider a medium level of turbulence. I just realized my comment wasn't written correctly - the bank itself is what caused the issue, not that it just suddenly started banking unexpectedly. What was interesting was that it specifically started and stopped as it eased into and out of the turn.