Is this the smoothest 747 landing ever? Performed by Captain Christiaan van Heijst the 747 touches down without the slightest bump.
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Christiaan van Heijst takes up the story:
“Fully established ILS runway 12, Tel Aviv. Landing checklist completed, cleared to land.
“Five hours of aloft and nearly all the action is happening in the last sixty seconds of flight.
“Ten knots of wind from the left, gradually dissipating to zero on the ground. Steering wheel input to control the flight path, thrust adjustments to control the airspeed. The runway ahead gets larger and larger, slowly but surely the Queen of the Skies is returning back to Earth. Guided by the hands of s trained pilot who directly influences the flight control surfaces, manipulating the airflow in subtle ways to steer the flying machine. No computers and no fly-by-wire at work here: just brain, muscle and gut feeling at work.
“Minimums”: this is where we have to see the runway- or approach lights latest. If not: we’ll have to abort the landing. Today is a good day.
“Continue”, obviously.
“The last two hundred feet towards the runway now, lights racing by on the ground, speed 155 kts, or close to 290 km/h. Wind decreasing, small adjustments following. Keep the centerline, don’t drift to the left now. Eyes scanning airspeed, glide path, localizer and the runway outside in rapid succession.
“Airplane in trim, only small adjustments are needed.
“Fifty. Forty. Thirty…”
“Time to start the flare: reducing the rate of descent in such a way that we lose exactly enough energy to gently touch down. Pull the nose up just a tiny bit and close the thrust levers to idle: the few critical seconds that can make or break a pilot’s ego.
“Twenty. Ten… Five”
“Eyes focussed on the far end of the runway now, flying the 747 by listening to the radar altimeter countdown, feeling and interpreting the forces on the controls and using that natural intuition, or gut feeling, most aviators sense and feel, but lack the proper words to express.
“Touchdown. The speed-brake lever moves up: the first indication the air-ground sensors have registered we’re on the ground. Opening up all four reversers while slowly moving the nose down, assuring a gentle touchdown of the nose gear. Back on terra firma.”
Christiaan is one of the world’s leading aviation photographers and more of his work can be found here.
You can follow Christiaan on Instagram here: @jpcvanheijst
