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

It happens. A few years ago we came into land, bumped into the runway and back up in the air again. Pilot clicks on the intercom and says "Sorry, I'm going to have another go!" Weather was rubbish, really high winds. He got us down safely which was the important bit. Missed our ferry connection though, we'd have made it if he got us down the first time!!

I think it comes under the spectrum of landings tbh. I once flew from Birmingham to Manchester as part of a long haul flight and the landing was akin to a handbrake turn!

Again, on a RAF flight I was on, the aircraft was very close to touch down, when the throttles where opened, the aircraft pitched up and we performed a go around. Turns out the pilot was doing a visual approach, and had lined up to land on the runway at the base just down the road from where he was supposed to.

Being a RAF flight, he had several fast jet pilots in the back all professionally judging him, one of who claimed to know the captain from pilot training and said he wasn’t surprised, and that he’d ended up flying transport aircraft for a reason!

Landing at Aberdeen is similar. Another former RAF airfield and according to a pp above, with an even shorter runway than Bristol. The hills to the south and west means there's a sudden sharp descent of the last few hundred feet that I call the "Dyce drop"' then full reverse thrust as soon as the tyres hit the tarmac.

Interesting ... flew into Bristol with TUI and it was as smooth as it come. It is a bit breezy down here at the moment though.

I did have a really bad landing with wizz air once though at Luton, cross winds were tipping the plane, pilot got a huge round of applause on landing and found out they shut the airport just minutes later (which ironically would have favoured us as they diverted nearer to our house!)

Big jet tv has been on all afternoon here!

Oh bless you!! Most of it is really reassuring! I hope your lack of love of flying doesn’t prevent you from seing the amazing world ❤️

Thanks @Atadconfussed no, I do fly, I love holidays! But I’m always quite nervous.

I was just about to ask the same thing. Ryan Air landings are awful and I won’t use them again.

*ust to add as well that the more junior pilot usually lands the plane (not the captain) unless there are extenuating circumstances (although the captain will take back control if the FO does something dramatically wrong!)

Pilots have to do a certain amount of landings over a certain period of time and whoever is needing a landing for their log book will probably land the aircraft.

But A good captain though will give the FO the chance to fly the aircraft in order to gain experience. There are all sorts of reasons taken into account as to why who does what on each sector.

This made me smile. My Dad was in the RAF and I remember him saying this on bumpy landings.

Watch big jet TV on YouTube when it's windy.

@Georgyporky My aerospace geek husband told me while we were en route to Madeira years ago (at the time a v nervous flyer, now do it so much for work that not much fazes me) that only very experienced pilots are allowed to land there because it’s notoriously tricky! Ditto Carcassonne, that was a shocker too. Sliding sideways down the runway in a storm at Newark (seatbelts for the last 2 hours) was also memorable. Gin helps.

Cross winds. A pilot balances that ...that's al you need to know. It's fine. Don't worry

Could have been a first officer (or captain having a bad day)
Please don't assume that only Captains can do smooth landings, First Officers have thousands of flying hours under their belt and I've flown with some F/Os who've performed super smooth landings, I've also been on flights where the Captain has stuffed it on to the runway. Just because you have 4 stripes it doesn't make you infallible.

It's like watching Air Crash Investigation the day before a flight. I find it reassuring the efforts the flight crew make to avoid disaster. Even when disaster happens the lengths investigators go to to prevent further tragedies.

Have people seen Big Jet TV?

This is his live stream when we had some big storms.

Average pax capacity on a 737-800 (one of the types RYR use) is 189 just for reference.

As soon as I read your post I knew it would be Bristol. The weather there can make for an interesting landing. It is shorter runway than some of the other airports in the UK but for the aircraft that land there it is plenty. They do have larger aircraft land there. The wind is roughly down the runway at the moment, but it is gusting which can make it bumpy on the approach. Ultimately pilot flying won't land if the weather is out of limits. The 737-800 has a slightly faster approach speed than it's airbus equivalent (or at least that's what an engineer colleague has told me).

To the poster who mentioned Exeter, their runway is longer than Bristol's, but they do have a slightly steeper approach.

As a massive Air Crash Investigation fan (despite being a very nervous flier - go figure) I am loving this thread.

Winds levels are high right now, that can affect landings in this manner.

The old RAF base at Ballykelly had a train track that went across the middle of the runway. I heard that Ryanair accidentally landed a plane on it once. That would be unnerving…. :-)

While Approaching Heathrow last week (Virgin airlines) we had bad turbulence for > 45 minutes so I wasn't surprised that the landing was very noisy, jerky, bumpy. It happens sometimes.

I used to be cabin crew and landing at Bristol was always interesting haha, bit of a wind tunnel. We had a few go-arounds landing there IIRC.

Oh interesting thank you … think the engines on accent of the airbus are louder than the standard Boeing ? Or that’s how it seemed ?

So glad you found that quote, I was trying to remember it!

Off to listen to Cabin Pressure again, one of the greatest pleasures available to mankind.

I'm going to take a few guesses here. Disclaimer - we are all AV geeks and my DD is learning to fly.

Shortish runway, heavy plane, possible wind issues would be my guess.

Gusts at the last minute, cross winds etc can all make a landing feel a bit enthusiastic. The plane can be pushed down, lifted up, buffeted quite dramatically and at low altitude/airspeed it can have a big effect. Short, wet runways too - the pilot needs to plant the plane to get maximum braking distance.

reversers are always loud, they're forcing air the wrong way so it's inevitable.

sounds like a normal landing, especially when you said Ryanair....the quicker the plane lands, the quicker its in the air making money again! Every minute a plane is on the tar is costing the airline money.

hope that helps