Plane landing

[Atadconfussed]

Trigger warning flying for those that may not be keen … x

Am I being unreasonable to think that the below was a bit concerning / any pilots want to enlighten me?!
have flown a lot when younger / pre children but felt this was different

budget airline flight, approx 300 passengers Boeing 737
landing very wobbly on approach ( think close to runway)
huge bang on landing / touch down landing gear
worst bit!!! Very very intense what felt like attempts to break without slowing …. Loudest reverse thrust noise ever and the cabin shaking so so much
I felt pinned back in my seat and awaited a huge issue!
afterwards everyone was studded … one women crying and a few choice words heard through the cabin….
Thoughts please

Cork airport is the same for bumpy landing due to being on a hill and very exposed.

Does someone knowledgeable know if this IS to save fuel? It’s always the story..

I’ve been there a few times! I was thinking of Lukla when PPs were talking about short runways. Short, ya think 😂
It has the added thrills of dogs wandering onto the runway, aircraft wrecks either side of the runway and what you could call a relaxed approach to airport operations 😁

When I read your description of the landing OP, I just thought "But surely it's very common for a landing to be like that?"

I don't fly much any more, but I used to, loads, for work- and I bet you can all guess which airport I usually flew out of, can't you? 😆

I was on one of these flights with a so called hard landing . Couldn’t believe it afterwards and I’ve flown a lot. Landing just felt like an explosion, the most almighty bang! EasyJet and not Bristol. The woman next to me started screaming , as did many other people. It was such a disorientating feeling, so scary!
Funnily enough I was flying in to meet a friend who was working at the arrival airport that night. She told me they had to deal with so many frightened passengers and complaints.
I have to confess although I didn’t react at the time it really affected me, I was so nervous boarding the return flight. I’m over it now but it took a while to really enjoy flying again.

Sounds like Ryanair are being taught correctly and TBF BA are taught similar though the vocab may be different.

I mentioned upthread that the Boeing approved technique as adopted by all users is (and to avoid people scrolling back here's a repeat of a C&P)

" "Do not allow the airplane to float: fly the airplane onto the runway. Do not extend the flare by increasing pitch attitude in an attempt to achieve a perfectly smooth touchdown."

BA were very very unkeen on pilots making excessive efforts trying to produce a smooth touch down.

FWIW at pretty much every airline from BA through to KLM through to Ryanair the flight recorder data from all flights gets screened and one of the data points that will often trigger a phone call from management to a pilot would be evidence that the pilot had landed long trying to produce a soft landing..

FWIW I'll also repost a link that I put up earlier that might help..

thepointsguy.com/news/hard-airplane-landings/

(FWIW I only fly down the back these days and I start getting a definite puckering in a certain area if I sense the aircraft is being "held off"... give nice firm landing any day of the week).

Back in the 80s I was babysitting for a first officer’s kids while he flew back into Manchester. He arrived home looking sheepish, and confessed that he’d banged the plane down so hard the oxygen masks had dropped.

@ZZTopGuitarSolo this was 1989 if my memory is correct.
Wonder if it was the same flight 🤔

Garuda is the worst for this. When we landed in Lombok I honestly thought it was end game. Everyone was screaming.

@Luredbyapomegranate

No, hard landings themselves do not save fuel. However, if you can land on the tarmac, brake efficiency, and turn off the runway at the next exit, you may save fuel on a quick taxi time to the arrival gate (depending on the layout of the airport, ie where the terminal is in relation the the runway).

As for the ‘hard’ landings - Ryanair tends to land at smaller airports, so generally shorter runways, and therefore the pilots have to try and land at the correct point at the beginning of the runway (obviously, to avoid going off the other end!) So they will not mess around attempting to keep the nose in the air a bit longer to (hopefully) achieve really smooth landing.

If you are landing on a much longer runway, you have the chance to do the above if you want to impress the flying public with a ‘greaser’. But really, you should land at the beginning of the runway! Even if you have to ‘put it down’ a bit more agriculturally.

I had an exciting landing yesterday at a windy Gatwick on a huge Emirates Airbus. After a bumpy approach we banged down on the tarmac with a thump and then took off again (loudly).To add to the thrill the plane has cameras on its roof so you can get a “pilots eye” view on the seatback screen. I was thinking “damn, I knew we should have updated our wills”! Happily after repositioning the plane the pilot landed us safely about 20 mins later to a round of applause (and a few people vomiting).

Great thread to read before I fly long haul soon 😂

Haha I knew it would be Bristol (Lulsgate to us local oldies). Fly in enough times and you get used to it, almost. Well you brace yourself for it

It's about as near to Bristol though as Rhoose is to Cardiff 🤣

And as for London Luton. What?

I love landing in Bristol with a slam and a rush and a Ryanair on time siren. It's the proper rollercoaster experience.

MrsJolly Paris Beauvais and Milan Bergamo stretch the envelope of credible proximity even further 😆

Ryanair throw the planes down. I had an aborted landing a few years ago which was odd. The whole 8 hours we were shaking so much I felt queasy and the cabin crew had to get strapped back in. As we came into Glasgow I heard the landing gear come down etc then suddenly we banked really sharply and the landing gear retracted as we rose. again and it took another hour before we came back in to land. We weren’t told what was happening at all. Although I heard the funniest comment from the woman behind us, ‘out luggage should hopefully be in the belt when we get there rather than having to wait!’ Yes because the luggage cones separately.

Land often in Jersey (short runway) and that's quite standard; not Ryanair either. I never especially enjoy it but I wouldn't worry!

Also had a few go-arounds / aborted landings due to weather. Par for the course, the pilots know what they're doing.

Also Warsaw Modlin!

I heartily concur. If you want a cheap thrill, getting under the planes on Felton Common gives you the most amazing dopamine hit!

I was on a flight that had an emergency landing - landed at correct airport, at correct time, so we would never have suspected otherwise - but the pilot was very up front throughout.

About 20mins before landing he made an announcement to the effect of:

”Ladies and gentlemen, please do not panic, but we have declared an emergency. The flaps of the plane have stopped working and we will have to make an emergency landing. The flaps help to slow the plane down on landing so for safety we will be landing on a longer runway. There will be emergency services waiting to meet us at the runway.”

They went over emergency exits again with us and you know what, only he told us you couldn’t have told from the landing, it felt normal. The fire engines waiting gave it away. There were some hysterical people on board though 😅

My landing was aborted and the pilot told us it was due to ‘poor vectoring’! The eventual landing was very good though. Glad for the warning about Ryanair and Bristol!

Unless almost everyone had another person on their lap you would not have anything like 300 passengers on a 737.

Ryanair love to slam dunk ya!

In other words they were blaming Air Traffic Control..

I used to work for Cathay Pacific and flew in and out of Kai Tak many many times. It wasn't just the flying between the buildings, waving at the residents but the hard right turn at the checkerboard to line up with the runway. It was always an experience.

The new airport has all the bells and whistles but nothing like the adventure of flying into Kai Tak (which is now the cruise terminal which to be fair is a far more appropriate facility in that spot than an airport).