RJ drags wingtip on landing

Man. I think I just did the worst landing of my career in Bora Bora. It was after a really long day. Lots of stress and tension. Bad weather. No moon. Black hole approach. Etc, etc, etc.

You think this kind of stuff can't happen but it can. I didn't break anything. Except maybe the passengers confidence in me and possibly the CP as well.

This kind of stuff happens. Keep your head on a swivel. There by the grace of god go I. Blah blah blah.
 
Roger Roger said:
Apparently it is now heresy to suggest that bending metal in a perfectly good airplane (assuming that was the case [which is a big assumption at this current time]) on a normal landing with light wind just might be a sign of underlying problems at least with training and checking, or possibly, maybe, heaven forbid, the competence of someone who was hired by an airline that at this point is picking talent by phone interview.

I don't know when but apparently somewhere along the way we lost sight of the fact that not everyone is cut out for this stuff and (once again given what is at present a large but not unreasonable set of assumptions) bending metal in a pretty undemanding set of circumstance just might be an indicator of something wrong.

Said another way, drag a wingtip in an rj and nobody bats an eye, wear sandals in a Cessna and everyone loses their gorram mind.
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I'm just saying that bad things can happen to good pilots, and it's best to keep that in mind. That's all.

Yes, there are guys who shouldn't be pilots, but we don't know enough about this situation to know what happened here. I assume that the pilot was a good one until proven otherwise. And the fact that metal got bent is not enough in itself to make that determination.
 
In surprised I haven't heard anyone say it could be fatigue. It was the next crew that found the damage, from what I heard.

And ASA did one in ATL over the summer. I can't seem to find the thread on it though (search not so good in forum runner)
 
Nark said:
Yep that's exactly what I said.

Since you recently upgraded on the Airbus, can you explain to me how I can avoid scraping a wing on it?
Evidently the last several thousand hours/landings in various airplanes: land, sea and skis; it's only been sheer luck I haven't scraped a wing.
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See my above post. It's not ALL sheer luck, but looking back at my career there are definitely a few times when luck played a big role in the outcome. Isn't that what people call "experience?"

My point was merely that it's best to not assume it can't happen to you...because it can.

I'm on the E190, btw.
 
Derg said:
Bending metal isn't normal.

Try not to bend metal.

Cash the check.

Rinse.

Repeat.
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There had better be major extenuating circumstances for bending metal. Like a flight control failure. Poor airmanship doesn't count. Gusty winds doesn't count. Dogs on the runway don't count.

In this case, the winds were calm, no flight control issues were reported. Comes down to airmanship. Can people have a bad day? Sure. But the one place we're trained and paid for to not have a bad day is close to the ground.
 
I'm not leaning either way of the arguments in this thread, but I will not be surprised at all to learn that it was purely poor airmanship like @Roger Roger is suggesting. Given that Mesa has the WORST screening process I've ever heard of in the entire industry, hell, ANY industry.

Like the joke meme on a previous page says, "When even Ameriflight says no, Mesa says yes" -true story
 
Cptnchia said:
There had better be major extenuating circumstances for bending metal. Like a flight control failure. Poor airmanship doesn't count. Gusty winds doesn't count. Dogs on the runway don't count.

In this case, the winds were calm, no flight control issues were reported. Comes down to airmanship. Can people have a bad day? Sure. But the one place we're trained and paid for to not have a bad day is close to the ground.
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Fully agree.

I remember when that guy hit the pole in Las Vegas.

Yeah it was dark, yes he was confused wit the lighting schema, but at the end of the day, you pranged a lighted pole at the airport.

Bad pilot. No donut.
 
Derg said:
Fully agree.

I remember when that guy hit the pole in Las Vegas.

Yeah it was dark, yes he was confused wit the lighting schema, but at the end of the day, you pranged a lighted pole at the airport.

Bad pilot. No donut.
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Did they fire him or retrain him?
 
Derg said:
I have no clue. I assume they retrained him.
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I think what @Seggy and @PhilosopherPilot are railing against in this thread is the conclusion that because a pilot possibly bent metal on a perfectly good airplane for no explainable reason that they should be terminated.

From the non airline crowd, that seems to be the common solutions to most problems. Make any mistake ever? Fire the pilot and don't look back.

Retraining is likely the better solution, and reasonable airlines will do just that.
 
jtrain609 said:
I think what @Seggy and @PhilosopherPilot are railing against in this thread is the conclusion that because a pilot possibly bent metal on a perfectly good airplane for no explainable reason that they should be terminated.

From the non airline crowd, that seems to be the common solutions to most problems. Make any mistake ever? Fire the pilot and don't look back.

Retraining is likely the better solution, and reasonable airlines will do just that.
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Oh no, I agree.

I'm exorcising the sarcastic demon inside me for a day of snarky foruming!

On a serious note, people wouldn't have known about this if not for the photo. Far crazier stuff happens but never sees the light of day. And for good measure.
 
There are things for which you should get a ride to the guardshack and a swift kick in the ass. Not many, but some. But what's irritating to me about this thread is that there is absolutely no way to discern whether one of those things was involved here. We don't know. But, this being the internet, we can't handle not being able to make an instant determination, and wind up having fourteen meta-discussiosn about whether it's "ok to believe <whatever>", absolutely ENGINEERING ways to feel justified in being pissy to one another, etc etc.
 
Cptnchia said:
Retrained, but on double secret probation. The only real way to get fired by SJA is to steal something or lie about something.
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Didn't someone post over on APC that said-light-pole-hitter was one of the very vocal guys against the "rocket surgeons" who voted down the TA?
 
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