Plane landing

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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

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!

I can confirm that it's true! Some of the Greek islands are tricky on approach and have the same requirements.

I come from a windy place where there is a short runway by the sea - the landings are always like this in my home city. Sometimes people clap when we land as it feels like it’s been such an effort. As it’s the usual there, people know to brace a bit and expect the sounds. I imagine it could be scary if you weren’t expecting it.

I think it was the Seychelles where the pilot/co-pilot made an announcement to warn us that the runway was on the shorter side so the landing would be somewhat harsh. This was a while ago and they'd only just started landing larger aircraft there.

The lemon is in play!

They used Bristol as a RAF station in the middle part of WW2 for bad weather training - for a reason! It's very windy / cloudy / rainy!

We always use Bristol airport and yes, landings do seem a bit ‘forceful’ on occasions, especially if it’s windy weather 🤢

As others have said, hard landings are not unusual.

The BANG on landing can be disconcerting and the feeling that the plane is not going to brake in time can be offputting aswell.

Anyone experienced a rocking from side to side when braking with a hard landing?

If anyone is interested there is a channel on YouTube called "Mentour Pilot" who has covered everything you ever wanted to know about aviation. Not just for pilots either. He has a great voice too.

https://www.youtube.com/@MentourPilot/videos

London City Airport is like this albeit not an international airport. Runway is v short - 1,508-metre (4,948 ft) long runway. Ran into someone I knew working as air crew flying in there who sat down beside me to catch up as we came into land and she commented how much she hated landing at City.
I love it the takeoffs there - very sharp and fast and lovely views of the City on a good day.
Worst landing ever was at Dublin, the wheels hit the tarmac and then due to cross winds the pilot took the plane back up again. That was some screaming engines!

think the engines on accent of the airbus are louder than the standard Boeing ? Or that’s how it seemed ?
It depends on what engines are used by the airline, some Boeing planes seem louder, (757, 777) but the B787 is very quiet, the Airbus 350 is a screechy fucker! It really varies from aircraft type and what engines are used.

You landed and ended up facing backwards? Wow, that would have been rough.😆

Flew into Bristol recently during heavy fog (lotta of announcements/warnings beforehand). Was bracing myself for a bumpy one (and trying to keep hold of two small children at same time) and it ended up being one of the smoothest landings ever.

if you want an airport/airstrip with a challenge, can recommend Lukla in Nepal - prayers definitely needed

Thanks for this fascinating list.

If Tioman is only half the length of Bristol, I presume it only lands propellor planes? I believe it is an island so if you overshoot, you'd end up in the sea?

The old Hong Kong airport landing was quite something else. Still makes my stomach lurch thinking about it!

@Spect8 Anyone experienced a rocking from side to side when braking with a hard landing?

Yeah, feels like the plane will break up. But as someone said, better to break up on the ground than in the air.

I have never landed in KaiTak. Don't fancy it. I also heard there are tall apartment buildings on either side. So no margin for error (or wind).

I wouldn’t worry too much about being put in that position, even inadvertently. It closed in 1998.

Whatever happened you survived.

Our flight from San Fran was delayed by 4 hours and the reason was the pilot tried to land 2x into San fran but due to fuel running low had to divert. It was an A388 too so a big jumbo.

I never had a really bad landing. Maybe a bit rougher than I like but nothing extraordinary. Even with Ryanair. Most of the times the landing and also take off is super smooth and almost unnoticeable.
The worst for me was a flight from Sydney to Melbourne with TigerAir I think it’s called. The plane was shaking the whole flight. I couldn’t wait to get off, it was awful!

A few years ago my mum landed into Manchester during strong winds. She said the plane was shaking and swinging from side to side like a church bell and really thought they just gonna fall on top of the houses. She and the girl in the next seat which she didn’t know, started to chat to ease nerves and ended up holding hands.

Old Hong Kong airport landings. Tbh it looked worse from the ground than on the plane!

Landing in Jersey is always interesting, even when the weather is good. Runway is only about 1,700 metres ... with a nice wee cliff at the one end. I think we were on an A320 last time, but it used to be Boeings, if not jet-props. Landing and braking are both intense.

Shit landing nothing to worry about, some pilots land as if they've been shot out of the sky or landing came as a surprise. Crappy pilot but then budget airlines have pilots with few flying hours. Hopefully they'll get better!

My DD was cute for RyanAir and, yes landings like that are standard

Crew not cute ( although I do think she’s cute 😂😂)

I’venoticed smaller planes tend to have more rough landings while bigger planes tend to land more softly. I once had a very rough landing like you described. Literally bruised my arse as apparently they had to rush an emergency landing to get out of an unexpected and very dangerous ice storm.