Emergency landing of an Air India B747-400

[fokker_f27]

Wow, what a skilled pilot! I can hardly even land a plane with no problems at all.

[earthman]

I would definitely be unimpressed if they had carried on to destination instead of going back to LAX.
DocV

I guess if it had been BA they would have been just happy to fly across the atlantic without their tires.

[Zorba]

This feels quite weird as I spotted an Air India B744 flying over at high altitude yesterday, guess it was that plane 8O

[itsdoctorv]

Did one of its wheels look smaller and have a yellow mark that said "Not rated for more than 50 mph?"



DocV

[Advisor]

That would be an argument, but I can hardly see further problems originate from blowing a tyre

Yes but you have to remember that by opting to land back at your departure airport, you have KNOWN landing conditions. Especially with long haul, even though you might be flying to an airport suitable to make a landing with a blown tyre, the conditions in 8,10, 12 hours from now are not known with certainty. Winds could be stronger than expected, temperature higher, precipitation heavier, etc. Even worse, you might have to divert if your destination is closed due to weather or another emergency. You are now facing the prospect of perhaps landing at an airport with a smaller runway and lesser emergency services.

I would definitely be unimpressed if they had carried on to destination instead of going back to LAX.

DocV

Thanks for putting it so aptly DocV

[fleabyte]

Did anyone ever hear about the Air India 747-200 that made such a hrad landing that it had to be scrapped, I saw it in an article about hull loses of 747's. That along with the 747-400 that the China Airlines pilot took off the end of the old Hong Kong Airport have to rate as worst sitaution for a 1st Officer to call home and say he had a little problem.