Being a pilot is probably the best job in the world. That is until you have a direct crosswind at max limits in dog poop weather. This crew looks like they faced one of those days. This Airbus A220 balked landing looked like it was a rough one.
We’ve posted a few rough landings before by pilots who faced some rough conditions of their own. Who could forget the Silkways 747 landing in a European storm or the Emirates A380 that made a very sharp correction back to centerline after a landing in very gusty conditions a few years back?
This latest video was posted by KMSPVideos on Youtube. He filmed it on April 24, 2022. His site has a great collection of videos, primarily from Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport (MSP). MSP has some great spotting locations. The airport is both a Delta and Sun Country Airlines hub and has significant international traffic. Back in the day, it was also a Northwest Airlines hub too (Be sure to check out KMSPVideos other work too including some great classic Northwest DC-9 footage).
You can always go around
In the video below, you can see the A220 make a fairly normal approach in gusty conditions. At about 20 feet, the jet suddenly nosed forward pretty aggressively potentially a reaction to a sudden shear. At this point it appears that the crew initiated a go-around but the jet touched down firmly with spoilers now deployed and in a low energy state.
While traveling on the ground before lifting back off, it appears that the A220 almost had a tail strike as the crew attempted to rotate. Simultaneously the jet veered pretty close to the left side of the runway (it might be a visual illusion, we’ll let you be the judge how close it was the edge).
The second landing was much less eventful fortunately. Two nuggets of knowledge here: 1.) Any pilot can have a bad day. Conditions were challenging to be sure. It’s about learning lessons from others to help make your next flight safer. 2.) As a pilot you always have to be ready for a go around. Even a stable approach can become unstable in the blink of an eye, particularly in gusty crosswind conditions. They did the right thing by going around. It reminded us of this famous pilot song…
Do you fly the A220? Any thoughts to add? We’d love to hear your perspective. Share it in the comments below.
