On November 16th, an Air Canada Boeing 777 was caught on tape flailing in the flare. The landing made international news. Then today, BigJetTV, an aviation enthusiast website caught another Boeing 777, this time American Airlines Boeing 777-300ER struggling to land again in similar conditions. Both incidents didn’t seem to result in any immediate danger, but the similarities were noticeable.
First, What about the Air Canada 777 Hard Landing?
In the case of the Air Canada Boeing 777-300ER (tail C-FIUV), the jet appeared to be stable until it was about 30 feet in the air. Then it abruptly rolled left before the pilot quickly corrected, then the jet touched down hard on its right main gear before it eventually settled. At the time, the winds at YYC were gusty, but manageable by most standards. The Boeing 777 was removed from service after the hard landing for a few days for an inspection. It was then returned to service without further issue.
Then What Happened At Heathrow With The American 777-300ER?
Then just yesterday, an American Airlines Boeing 777-300ER flying flight AA134 was also filmed landing in gusty winds by BigJetTV. Once again, the jet appeared stable for the final seconds of the approach before rolling abruptly just feet above the ground. The jet hit very hard on the upwind gear before porpoising a bit to where the main gear bounced and the nose gear touched the runway once again by itself briefly. The jet recovered fairly quickly and completed the landing rollout without further incident. The weather at the time at Heathrow wasn’t great with gusty winds and low level turbulence. The aircraft, N719AN, later flew back to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport without incident.
What Happened?
In both cases, the Boeing 777s were landing in gusty crosswinds and it’s highly likely that wind shear played heavily into both incidents. While both landings were far from good, the recent American 777 landing appears to be worse because the aircraft momentarily touched down nose gear first. From the video, it appears that the pilot overcorrected for the gusty crosswind, then released the back pressure pushing the nose forward abruptly before correcting to salvage the landing.
Some may ask why the pilots in both incidents didn’t go around. While an early go around in such an incident is always preferred to landing an unstable aircraft, trying to go around after dissipating so much energy after such a firm touchdown might actually be worse due to the aircraft and the pilot initiating the post-touchdown sequence of thrust reverses, spoilers and brakes.
Still, there are many factors that we don’t know yet about each incident. Was there wake turbulence from a preceeding landing (unlikely in those conditions)? Did the sensitivity of the Boeing’s 777 fly by wire controls play a factor (probably not as thousands of 777 flights land safely every day)? And finally, in both cases, were the pilots rusty or inexperienced (possible)? The last one is always a possibility as its a well known fact that larger airliners have pilots who only get a few landings each quarter.
Regardless, we’re just glad everyone in both cases were safe. If you are a Boeing 777 pilot or have additional information, we’d love to hear your thoughts. Post them in the comments below or on our Facebook page.
