Passenger Video Shows Terrifying Aborted Landing On Boeing 737

When I land I normally try to be lined up with the runway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZFIsI2913g&feature=related here you can see how ligned up he was.

Yeah -I would say it was pretty ugly - the right engine was well left of the centerline, in fact it was almost left of the left "piano bar" How much more of a bank would it have taken to cartwheel the airplane, another 03 degrees?

That has to be the worst approach I have ever seen. Cripes, I am just a Private pilot and I am sure I could do way better than that. Maybe I will send them my resume..LOL

Good landing: Walk Away. Real-good landing: Re-Use plane.

Unbelievable... I'm sure he knew well in advance that this landing was not going well.. wonder why he kept with it.

There's an interesting analysis video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZFIsI2913g&feature=related take a look

The weather was good? REALLY? Looks like he was performing a circling maneuver in IMC conditions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAGAzvNi594&feature=related
Very poor quality, but you can see just how tilted it was at a certain point. Almost full belly is visible.

Obviously, the pilot was not lined up and it appears that he/she used aileron to correct the situation. Bad idea! The damage tells the story. They overcorrected to make things worse. I say... no line up...no control...no land! Go around.

So typical, Tom. Russians never give high marks! Lol

In almost 35 years in the Cockpit I have NEVER had a landing THIS SCREWED UP. I'm afraid this is going to be the quality of the Pilot in cockpits in the near future!

Nothing more than very poor runway alignment. A case of the "Get-There" syndrome. He/She should be grounded until they can show some sort of proficiency in handling an a/c with souls on board!
...Just my 2.5 cents.

Don't you just love it when passengers and journalists all-of-a-sudden become aviation experts?

Sure looks like some fog in the area to me - combined with sun glare, could have been a problem.
By the time he was on the runway he was way out of shape - the decision should have been made to go around earlier???

Nice recovery from a Single Lutz but, as usual, the Russian judge gives low marks for presentation..
4.5|4.2|3.5|4.5|2.5|3.0|

Wow. That was scary. Student pilots indeed.

Thanx "preacher1". Note well taken.

ouch...is that wing repair gonna come out of his paycheck?

Peter, I hate to think of what could have happened if they didn't go around. The visual I'm getting is...a tipped wing making contact on the pavement and I see a mini UAL Flight 232 all over again.

Agreed. We are all "Armchair Pilots"!

Once again..."Common Sense"! I find it hard to believe that a pilot would wait that long to pull up and go around! When things don't look right..."Go Around"! He was too low to make any corrections.

Yes Stefan. Aircraft are forgiving in many situations. Just look at Aloha flight 243. B-737 flying from Hilo to Honolulu. The roof ruptured resulting in a explosive decompression. The decompression ripped off the large section of the roof. Do to the many cycles that airplane was subjected to with humid weather conditions, the fusalage gave way. Boeing alerted the airline of the inevitable problem but unfortunately Aloha's maintenance did not address the problem in time. Result...you have one Flight Attendant blown out and lost at sea and several passengers injured. The amazing thing is, is that 737, maintained it's airworthiness with half of it's roof torn off! That says a lot about the quality and workmanship of Boeing Aircraft!

Y'all see an awful lot from an over wing passenger passenger window. I could see the corrections looking at the runway markings but couldn't tell the AC was damaged. Some of you must be looking at another video.

Even if the guy had a straight in approach, he wasn't in alignment with the runway. I think he should have aborted way before he did. There may have been circumstances that occurred that we are not aware of.

I think they are fortunate the wing scraped the runway and not the earth on either side. The asphalt/concrete is much more forgiving where with earth/dirt the wing probably would've dug in and caused a lot more yawing.

Take the word "Terrifying" out please.

Granted the pilot should have aborted the landing as the approach was not atabilized. However, the aircraft was not "heavily damaged". Basically broke the light and scraped the paint. The wing tip is mostly fiberglass and is not a structural part. Couple of days in the shop and back on the line. The video does not give any indication of the wing hitting the ground, there is no sound, bump, or exclamations from the passengers. Pilot probably sweated a bit on the go-around, but also probably didn't think he hit anything.

A number of years ago an engine fell completely off an AA MD80 while in cruise flight. The crew knew the engine stopped operating, but did not know the engine was not present until the control tower at SFO told them after they landed. I don't recall if the engine was ever found. This just illustrates that airplanes are tougher than you might think.

Yes, Peter. It appears on the video that he wasn't struggeling from a crosswind nor visual problems. He cut the base leg way to the left and tried to compansate his final with the ailerons to get himself on track but he was too low...Therefore the "right" wing dipped and created the damage. You know...he knew he screwed up! How can a pilot not know that his or her wingtip hit the runway?

You are so right! What was he smokin'? There was no Base, No Final...therefore... No Landing!

It appears that he was drifting from right to left at touchdown. He overcorrected to the right to stay on the runway. The official description is asinine and is without merit. The only fog present was the fog in the cockpit.

The white building seen in the video at 2:06 is 800 feet from the center line with that point being 800 feet from the numbers, putting it at 45 degrees. It appears he's coming in at half that angle. Walk the video back on Google Earth further and the approach is insane.

Some words for the splendid pilots of said flight: To quote the immortal Mel Brooks, "Just say 'Oops!' and get out!"

If you want to fly like your landing on a carrier, request an LSO to stand by the numbers and work you in.

I've seen worse, unfortunately. There is an MD10-30 formerly belonging to World Airways landed so hard, nose first, at BWI it actually bent the main spar. The pilot got the plane back in the air flew around like this for 20 minutes before making a successful and final landing for that plane. The plane is now property of the Fire Rescue service to practice with.

It is amazing to walk up to the plane and see the ripples in the skin then to look in the wheel well & hell hole and see the actual damage.

Poor runway alignment. A very elementary mistake and certainly inexcusable.

I thought passengers were supposed to have all electronic devices turned off during landing! I see examples like this all the time of people taking videos of takeoffs and landings.
In hindsight, it's great to have a video account of what happened in cases like this, otherwise speculation would be prominenet. Maybe they should allow video cameras to be on during takeoffs and landings for this reason. Maybe not. I am not an expert. Just my opinion.

Passengers in row 20F with camera phone footage of a botched landing somewhere in South America is not a reliable witness to events in a cockpit. No one here as any clue what may or may not have happened and should reserve judgement lest they find themselves in a similar situation with all the experts. Inop or erroneous navigational equipment readings, maybe he was line up for an opposed runway...who knows... Judge, jury, and executioner does not bode well for anyone in aviation...especially when the report was brought to you by Jesus.

Hey...if you walk away from it...it's a good landing.

Ex airforce jet jockey forgot he's in a 737? Should have been flying an IFR approach if conditions were marginal VFR. Either way, the pilot needs some Cessna 172 time, bring him down a notch - looks like he's flying the airplane with his ego, not his brain.

I wish reporting like this wasn't so hyped.

It was hardly "terrifying" (disconcerting perhaps) nor was the impact "so harsh".

It wasn't lined up with the runway, as can be seen as the plane flies over the numbers. For whatever reason the left wingtip scraped the runway and there was a go-around.

Boy that captain throttled up right in the nick of time saving all of their behinds.

joe nettler.....wow... you are so good at talk.... A hole

I have worked on A/C with more damage than this... I think this can be totally considered pilot error, However, I feel the article title is way to harsh... I do not see it as being that Terrifying.. I did not hear any screams from other passengers or anything like that, the plane did not jump, surge or anything as a result of the impact and I would venture to say the crew never new or felt anything until they got on the ground. I wonder if they declared an emergency.

Interesting that the pax was using an electronic device below 10,00ft, or is it only the FAA that prohibits this? And why did he know to do this, was he expecting trouble?

ive been in an aircraft with one engine on full power while the other one was a dead weight. We got on the ground but it took 2 passes just like this one

Im gonna guess without reading.......Ryanair?

That was the most lame video I have ewer seen.....

When the Inflight Crew goes away to prepare for landing and sit in their "jumpseat"... the passengers will play...it's out of their control! The Inflight Crew were not trained to be "BabySitters"!