The third and fourth landings are really extreme. In the fourth landing, it looks like the landing gear is steered to match the direction of the runway.
Update: The main landing gear will not steer in the air… only on the ground and in the opposite direction of the nose gear.
The steering system incorporates aft axle steering of the main landing gear in addition to the nose gear steering. The aft axle steering system is hydraulically actuated and programmed to provide steering ratios proportionate to the nose gear steering angles. During takeoff and landing, the aft axle steering system is centered, mechanically locked, and depressurized.
From Boeing 777 Airport Planning Document.
If there is one thing that can be said about Man that overides any of his faults or follies it is this:
Courage.
Man is effing courageous. I don’t know why. Flying is one of the miracles of man’s creations. We take jumbo jets for granted but all the minds that went into perfecting a flying machine in the face of all the nay sayers is one of Man’s great triumphs.
Actually, it appears that they were doing testing of crabbed landings. If you watch the rudder carefully, it was being used to hold the aircraft in the landing attitude until the actual touchdown at which point it was kicked out to align the plane with the runway. There appears to be little actual crosswind but rather it was a simulation of how the plane is landed in a real crosswind.
Man, my ass would have chewed all the cotton out of my seat.
Very impressive.
This is definitely NOT a simulated crosswind. Look at the direction of the rubber smoke off the tires after landing and you will get a sense of the strength of the crosswind. These were apparently some of the crosswind certification landings for the B-777 at Moses Lake, WA. Some of the landings were landed in a full crab (certification requirement) with no attempt to de-crab on touchdown as is a common practice among airline pilots.
You guys are exactly right. I was mislead by the information with the video…and I don’t speak Portugese. (I think that’s what it is?)
The last time I emergency landed a taildragger in a 40 kt. crosswind, I ran out of rudder quickly and ended up in the grass (no damage, thanks to airport maint.) Nothing like a steerable nosewheel to keep you on the runway. Goodness me, did you see the rudder action on that beast on the last landing? Nice iron, that triple seven.
#4, Jumbopilot, you are precisely correct. Xwind landings are a real pain, and I doubt passengers would like a “slip.”
I did my best to translate the Portugese. This is verbatum:
Every day that we find calm what to make in these situations.
It flies.
Makes a safe landing.
One remembers it’s instructors.
These pilots had certainly flied conventional aircraft.
It learns with the best ones.
They certainly look like crosswind crab landings to me as the wings are level on short approach and the plane looks to straighten out when it touches down.===cant do that except with a crosswind. But camera angles and lens can make something look like its not. Dont know why anyone would fake crosswind landing though. Could not see the airlerons at all which would be another clue.
We all watch every airplane documentary on tv there is–right? Seen so many, repetitious and getting boring. Just saw a new show on cable science channel called “The Ultimate Guide Planes”. Adds to the info we have seen before and lots of planes shown in flight. Worth a look.
The 3rd and 4th landings that ‘looks like the landing gear is steered to match the direction of the runway” have been electronically exaggerated.
The real landing gear does not ‘steer to match the direction of the runway’ but it is obviously distorted.
Great flying – I’ll bet there were some white knuckles and sweaty palms in the cockpit.
I really HATED crosswind landings in my brief fixed wing a/c experience. Thankfully I switched to helicopters – no need for tedious stuff like lining up with runways.
10—The following link says the main gear is linked to the nose gear and is steerable. Do you have any authority to contradict this?
http://tinyurl.com/dw66j
11—A steady crosswind is dead simple. Anybody with white knuckles needs to go back thru their training cycle. You or I may have white knuckles, but not a qualified pilot. Thats why flying is so safe.
Question for the pilots. Who cleans up all the bricks left on the aircraft by the passengers after one of those touchdowns?
Yep, I didn’t think that looked like “distortion” in the video. Here’s a quote from the above link:
To #12
Only the aft axle of the main gear is steerable, and then only on the ground, and then in the _opposite_ direction of the nosewheel.
But other than that, good point.
http://www.boeing.com/commercial/airports/acaps/777_23.pdf
15—Good one. I have to admit lining the gear up with the runway only makes good sense, so I don’t know why its not done? Maybe other than making the system too complicated, and who wants to land with a crooked gear?
I think you lost me when you posted the pictures were “electronically exaggerated” which is just bold assertion and not obvious to me looking at “normal looking crosswind landings.”
thanks for posting the comeback though. Only the truth will set us free.
It looks to me as though the apparent steering of the main gear is due to the heat shimmer over the runway.
Here’s a photo of the Boeing 777 landing. The six wheel bogies DO make it appear to be steering. An optical illusion rather than distortion.
If you click the image for a larger photo, the illusion disappears.
18—I’m used to seeing trucks hang down like that, so I missed it as the reference. Wings still nice and level though. I’ve looked at that last landing several times. Gear took on alot of sideloading on that one. Fully loaded==could have been trouble?
#8 hopper
A translated transcript for you:
It’s not every day…
we find calm winds.
What to do in these situations:
FLY
Return to AirClub times.
Remember your instructors
and do a safe touchdown.
These pilots certainly have flown conventional aircrafts.
Learn with the best.
It’s Portuguese alright, but not particularly well redacted. It’s from a Brazilian promotion of a small air club.
…Just my 2 cents…
Thanks JoaoPT. Google’s translator is pretty iffy.
Bloomin’ awesome… oh, and great comment #1, couldn’t agree with you more.
Good shots. As to steerable mains – I am under the impression that the venerable old B-52 has that feature, but I don’t know that for sure. Also, I am supposing that the crosswind was too stiff in these examples to employ the wing-low method of crosswind compensation.
I was told once by an ex B52 crewman that the B52 gear can be lined up with the runway while in a crab approach. Don’t know if that is true but that is what he told me
#23, #24, My cousin was a B-52 driver before he started his Florida to Caribbean charter service, and he and I have swapped many stories. The B-52 does indeed have xwind landing gear. You’ll have to scroll down some to see the correct picture.
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-468/ch12-3.htm
B52 landing gear can indeed turn sideways for crosswinds.
They have to since the B52, unlike other aircraft, does not rotate upward on the back gear for takeoff nor flair nose-up for landing.
[totally off topic]
I wonder how well the man in the trailer with the joystick can land this IKHANA in a bad xwind. 24 hours duration with a one ton payload!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc8u1ZPSh0w&watch_response
Maybe I am hyper cynical… but haven’t birds been doing this exact
same procedure for millions of years?
Douglas Adams was right in his observations of humans.
Cursor_
28—I’m not aware of birds being licensed to land passenger aircraft–so I doubt this happens very often.
23–You got it backwards. Low wing is utilized in high crosswind to reduce side-loading on the landing strut. There is a maximum crosswind speed below which you can land in a crab.
26–Right you are. The BUF “flies” to takeoff and land. Fully loaded, on takeoff the wing is low to the ground. Around about 120 mph the wing start flying and comes up in an arc of 10-12 feet, then the BUF lifts off. I don’t know how it takes all that flexing==and more in severe turbulence. Ever seen a wing flap????? Scary!!!
Not afterburners, but the BUF untilizes water injection to gain more thrust. In some take-offs, lose the water and you crash. Not much fun.
pilots with mad skills! wonder if you can emulate this in MS flight sim?