3 ms·

Wake turbulence almost killed someone I knew flying a training jet. He landed after a heavy aircraft and the cross wind was just enough to counter the natural s

Wake turbulence almost killed someone I knew flying a training jet. He landed after a heavy aircraft and the cross wind was just enough to counter the natural spreading of wake turbulence. There was basically a horizontal tornado over the runway. When he hit it he lost all roll control. He ended up ejecting horizontally across the grass and somehow survived.

matwood 2y ago
I fly a lot and the only time I've ever thought 'this is it' was one time taking off out of Denver International. The airport is out on the plains east of the city and is known for high winds. We were taking off and nose had just started to lift up when a wind gust cause the entire plane to roll to the left. I could see the wing out my window and am still surprised to this day it didn't touch the ground. The pilot corrected, it felt like, by increasing our angle up and we finished taking off sliding a bit sideways.
- lqet 2y ago
  We were once landing on Madeira, one of the most dangerous airports in the world. Even a nice landing there is quite uncomfortable. For some time you fly very close to the ocean, heading straight into the cliffs, and only in the last moment the plane seems to make a right turn to approach the runway. We made a wobbly touchdown, people already wanted to get up, when suddenly the plane was again lifted a few meters and rolled to the right, only to then slam very hard onto the runway again. When we came to a stop, the pilot commented: "We, errm, have arrived at Funchal, in case you were, errm, irritated about the landing, we were too."
  - aa-jv 2y ago
    I'm from Perth, one of the windiest cities in the world, and had a very similar situation landing once, a few years ago .. seemed like we were on center runway, everything seemed fine for smooth landing, and .. what felt like meters before touchdown, a gust came up and we rolled hard left, the wingtip barely escaping scraping the ground. The pilot corrected the roll and we did a go-around for another attempt, 30 minutes later while the wind settled. Was such a harrowing experience that, when travelling back home from abroad, I try to fly into Port Hedland and then just take a 10-hour bus ride. (Okay, I admit that I do that mostly so I can get my jet-lag adjusted at the beaches of Shark Bay along the way .. ;)
  - jonasdegendt 2y ago
    Your description of the landing reminds me of the old Hong Kong Kai Tak airport approach. You basically had to fly straight over the city, high rise buildings straight ahead, and bank right as hard as the plane would let you at just the right time to hit the runway. Outside perspective: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKqO6gdJIz8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKqO6gdJIz8 Cockpit view: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx3Ccs5tKfw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx3Ccs5tKfw
    - FabHK 2y ago
      Ah, the good old "checkerboard" approach. Visible in the second video from 3:10 to 3:25 on the left, and when it was clearly visible it was time to turn right and land. After the move to the new Chek Lap Kok airport in 1998, the checker board fell into disrepair, but was renovated a while ago. It's visible from my office in its old red-and-white glory. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kai_Tak_Airport https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kai_Tak_Airport https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkerboard_Hill https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkerboard_Hill https://droneandslr.com/travel-blog/hong-kong/checkerboard-hill/ https://droneandslr.com/travel-blog/hong-kong/checkerboard-h...
    - mrandish 2y ago
      Flying into old Kai Tak as a passenger was just insane, especially in a cross-wind and if you had a view out both sides of the plane. You'd see low buildings and streets under the plane with buildings much taller than the plane very close on both sides. Then immediately have to start side-crabbing as the buildings thinned out once over the airport fence line. And you'd never not be paying close attention because of the hard wing-over turn right before the final dive into the airport. Felt like that shot in Star Wars of the X-Wing dive rotating into the Death Star trench.
    - gottorf 2y ago
      Ah, the physical equivalent of tech debt...
  - psunavy03 2y ago
    (Captain then reaches across the cockpit and smacks the First Officer in the back of the head Three Stooges-style)
fransje26 2y ago
Unlikely. They are landing on runway 23, with, from the METAR, wind coming from 270 at 28 knots. That's more than enough crosswind to clear any wake turbulence that could have been there. (See [1]) [1] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225007139_Crosswind_Thresholds_Supporting_Wake-Vortex-Free_Corridors_for_Departing_Aircraft https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225007139_Crosswind...
chris_va 2y ago
That was my first thought too. I've been flipped slideways flying short final (cessna) by a heavy jet that departed 90 seconds prior on a parallel runway. Fortunately I was high enough to recover, but it could have gone very differently. Wind shear seems more likely this close to the ground, but I'm sure we'll get a nice write-up after the investigation.

matwood 2y ago

I fly a lot and the only time I've ever thought 'this is it' was one time taking off out of Denver International. The airport is out on the plains east of the city and is known for high winds. We were taking off and nose had just started to lift up when a wind gust cause the entire plane to roll to the left. I could see the wing out my window and am still surprised to this day it didn't touch the ground. The pilot corrected, it felt like, by increasing our angle up and we finished taking off sliding a bit sideways.

lqet 2y ago
We were once landing on Madeira, one of the most dangerous airports in the world. Even a nice landing there is quite uncomfortable. For some time you fly very close to the ocean, heading straight into the cliffs, and only in the last moment the plane seems to make a right turn to approach the runway. We made a wobbly touchdown, people already wanted to get up, when suddenly the plane was again lifted a few meters and rolled to the right, only to then slam very hard onto the runway again. When we came to a stop, the pilot commented: "We, errm, have arrived at Funchal, in case you were, errm, irritated about the landing, we were too."
- aa-jv 2y ago
  I'm from Perth, one of the windiest cities in the world, and had a very similar situation landing once, a few years ago .. seemed like we were on center runway, everything seemed fine for smooth landing, and .. what felt like meters before touchdown, a gust came up and we rolled hard left, the wingtip barely escaping scraping the ground. The pilot corrected the roll and we did a go-around for another attempt, 30 minutes later while the wind settled. Was such a harrowing experience that, when travelling back home from abroad, I try to fly into Port Hedland and then just take a 10-hour bus ride. (Okay, I admit that I do that mostly so I can get my jet-lag adjusted at the beaches of Shark Bay along the way .. ;)
- jonasdegendt 2y ago
  Your description of the landing reminds me of the old Hong Kong Kai Tak airport approach. You basically had to fly straight over the city, high rise buildings straight ahead, and bank right as hard as the plane would let you at just the right time to hit the runway. Outside perspective: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKqO6gdJIz8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKqO6gdJIz8 Cockpit view: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx3Ccs5tKfw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx3Ccs5tKfw
  - FabHK 2y ago
    Ah, the good old "checkerboard" approach. Visible in the second video from 3:10 to 3:25 on the left, and when it was clearly visible it was time to turn right and land. After the move to the new Chek Lap Kok airport in 1998, the checker board fell into disrepair, but was renovated a while ago. It's visible from my office in its old red-and-white glory. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kai_Tak_Airport https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kai_Tak_Airport https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkerboard_Hill https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkerboard_Hill https://droneandslr.com/travel-blog/hong-kong/checkerboard-hill/ https://droneandslr.com/travel-blog/hong-kong/checkerboard-h...
  - mrandish 2y ago
    Flying into old Kai Tak as a passenger was just insane, especially in a cross-wind and if you had a view out both sides of the plane. You'd see low buildings and streets under the plane with buildings much taller than the plane very close on both sides. Then immediately have to start side-crabbing as the buildings thinned out once over the airport fence line. And you'd never not be paying close attention because of the hard wing-over turn right before the final dive into the airport. Felt like that shot in Star Wars of the X-Wing dive rotating into the Death Star trench.
  - gottorf 2y ago
    Ah, the physical equivalent of tech debt...
- psunavy03 2y ago
  (Captain then reaches across the cockpit and smacks the First Officer in the back of the head Three Stooges-style)

fransje26 2y ago

Unlikely. They are landing on runway 23, with, from the METAR, wind coming from 270 at 28 knots. That's more than enough crosswind to clear any wake turbulence that could have been there. (See [1]) [1] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225007139_Crosswind_Thresholds_Supporting_Wake-Vortex-Free_Corridors_for_Departing_Aircraft https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225007139_Crosswind...

chris_va 2y ago

That was my first thought too. I've been flipped slideways flying short final (cessna) by a heavy jet that departed 90 seconds prior on a parallel runway. Fortunately I was high enough to recover, but it could have gone very differently. Wind shear seems more likely this close to the ground, but I'm sure we'll get a nice write-up after the investigation.