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Think he trusts his instruments....
pewe - 7/2/14 at 11:19 AM

Worth the 4 mins to see this landing.
New Zealand according to my mate who as flown into the same airport albeit on a cloudless day.
linky

Enjoy.
Cheers, Pewe10


slingshot2000 - 7/2/14 at 12:28 PM

GULP !


sdh2903 - 7/2/14 at 01:10 PM

Pilots do earn their money occasionally!


coyoteboy - 7/2/14 at 01:18 PM

Autopilot could get them down to the point of seeing the runway, and potentially land it, in zero visibility, but it must be a fun job and nice to test your skills every once in a while!


benchmark51 - 7/2/14 at 01:47 PM

Well, his kit works a lot better than my soddin' fuel gauge!!


steve m - 7/2/14 at 02:08 PM

He appears to be landing very fast, as probaly did not want to go around again


AndyW - 7/2/14 at 02:46 PM

quote:
Originally posted by steve m
He appears to be landing very fast, as probaly did not want to go around again


I thought that, but it appears the video speeded up judging by the corrections being to fast on finals. Commercial planes don't react like that on normal speed.

Great skill and an amazing experience for any pilot


jps - 7/2/14 at 02:49 PM

eeek!

Up in the Peak District there are a good few wrecks where planes (usually military) just flew into the ground. I've just realised why that might happen!!!!!


scudderfish - 7/2/14 at 03:02 PM

I've done that Flying between Queenstown and Milford Sound in a small plane. 1 pilot, six passengers. I got to sit alongside the pilot and had to get in first so the plane didn't drop on it's tail when another passenger went to sit in the back! It surprised me how busy he was, he never stopped fiddling with something the whole flight. We didn't have that cloud though, it was a crystal clear day.

[Edited on 7/2/14 by scudderfish]


T66 - 7/2/14 at 07:44 PM

Thats a clean layer of cloud. The weather above and below is good, likewise the cloud base is relatively high. Just looks dramatic disappearing into the plap with a mountain in front.

A typical approach to most airports by airliners etc, involves radar vectors to line them up with the runway, then using the aircraft instrument landing system, which flies the aircraft down a cone or radio beam, automatically descending a glide slope and runway direction. As they approach the airport, in most instances the aircraft will stay on the autopilot until the decision height is made, Im not sure what this is for airliners but say for example 250'. If at that height the pilot has good enough references with the runway to land, they will land. If they dont then they will go around, and try again. The go around is actioned with a button on the autopilot, which will take control of the climb to safe height while the pilot gets his poo in a pile. A circuit will be flown, and then another approach will be sorted. If after another failed landing, if the runway is not visible then a divert may be necessary to another field.

Some aircraft have ils which will land them in fog with zero visibility, you will have seen red lights across the runways ends stopping vehicles crossing the centreline in bad weather, there is also a free zone within the ils area on the airfield, which should be clear of parked vehicles. This is to minimise signal problems for the ils in poor weather. An airport in poor weather, ie fog will go to LVPs - low visibilty procedures, all internal vehicle gates get locked and vehicle traffic is reduced to essential use only on taxiways/aprons/runways, generally the ranger vehicle.


Im not an expert on these matters, but I fly for a living so have a reasonable idea of what happens, if anyone is interested. Heres 500' on a grotty day....The less you can see, the harder the crew works.




[Edited on 7/2/14 by T66]


Dualist - 8/2/14 at 09:14 AM

Beautiful video

But if I was the pilot and was subjected to coldplay I would have gone flat out into the nearest mountain.


slingshot2000 - 8/2/14 at 10:18 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Dualist
Beautiful video

But if I was the pilot and was subjected to coldplay I would have gone flat out into the nearest mountain.