Pilot’s ‘blind’ landing in hail damaged plane

Bear

Bear

Well-Known Member
9RAW: http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world...ly-lands-damaged-plane-through-hailstorm.html

A Ukrainian pilot has been hailed as a hero after landing an aircraft carrying 127 passengers following a torrential hailstorm that left the Airbus A320's nose damaged and the windscreen cracked.

Captain Alexander Akopov, who navigated the AtlasGlobal aircraft to safety last Thursday, has since been awarded the Ukrainian Order For Courage after landing the damaged plane.

Incredible footage of the incident shows the aircraft making a shaky landing at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, but ultimately getting the dozens of terrified tourists grounded safely.

Blustering winds, driving rain and hail the size of golf balls had left the plane with severe damage, according to reports - with its nose caved in, the windscreen partially smashed and his autopilot disabled.

The cracked cockpit windows left Captain Akopov unable to see his approach to land, and an emergency response was ready in case of a crash upon the plane's landing.

However he got everyone down - and upon landing, he got a round of applause from passengers, a phone call from Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko and a national award for his bravery.

Captain Akopov said he was celebrating receiving his Order For Courage as if it were "his second birthday".

A total of 16 other aircraft were told to reroute their flights into the airport on the same day, after rain falling in stair rods caused flashfloods that were at knee-height within just 20 minutes throughout Istanbul.

Ten people were injured in the storm that caused the collapse of 90 roofs and pulled more than 200 trees out of the ground.

News hub.
 
Man you beat me to the punch. Definitely glad to see a pilot being praised for once instead of picking a fight with a flight attendant. :)
 
Mattyg36 said:
Man you beat me to the punch. Definitely glad to see a pilot being praised for once instead of picking a fight with a flight attendant. :)
Click to expand...

that's just the beginning of the story, further down the line someone figured he's from Donetsk and holy jebus by the social media profile appears pro-Russian. After the ensuing crapstorm Russian Foreign Ministry published a letter offering him citizenship and employment :stir:
 
z987k said:
Don't we do that whenever we do a Cat III?
Click to expand...

Hopefully not

FB_IMG_1501551618403.jpg
 
z987k said:
Don't we do that whenever we do a Cat III?
Click to expand...

Well the article mentioned that the A/P quit, that and, have you ever flown outside North America, Western Europe and the very largest international airports around the world? Well I have and trust me it's somewhat terrifying. Aviation infrastructure that's routine here, uh well not so much in Cameroon or Paraguay, Romania or wherever you happen to be operating. Let alone a broke, war torn country like Ukraine.. how often do you think flight check is out there at the ILS shack in places like these? Not my choice places to do a Cat III.
 
Soku39 said:
Ukraine
Click to expand...
Turkey. Istanbul Ataturk airport, Turkish airlines.
Pilot is from the contested area that was Ukraine prior to 2014.
Cheap bs PR on ukie presidents side, very little to do with Ukraine otherwise.
 
BigZ said:
Turkey. Istanbul Ataturk airport, Turkish airlines.
Pilot is from the contested area that was Ukraine prior to 2014.
Cheap bs PR on ukie presidents side, very little to do with Ukraine otherwise.
Click to expand...

Ah, I see, disregard, buy ya I've flown in poor Eastern Europe, not great facilities.
 
No love for the FO?!
We have a 200kt speed limit on the side view cockpit windows, open 'em up and land. I'm more surprised the fan blades held up to that damage.
 
He said: “I have been flying for 30 years. Well, did you see the plane landing? Was it okay? The passengers are alive. It is normal. This is our professional reliability," he told local media.

“Our locator did not show this weather disaster, this is why it happened. It was hard, but the main thing is that people are alive.”
Click to expand...

Sheesh that photo! You don't just get a hail mary like that. Sounds like yet another case of radar attenuation and a pilot picking what looks like a clean shot across a storm, whereas in reality it's the worst part of the storm. And we give medals for it.
 
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
Sheesh that photo! You don't just get a hail mary like that. Sounds like yet another case of radar attenuation and a pilot picking what looks like a clean shot across a storm, whereas in reality it's the worst part of the storm. And we give medals for it.
Click to expand...

Avherald has reports of two other aircraft flying through hail in the Istanbul area during that same time period. I don't know if that exonerates the Atlasglobal crew or indicts Turkish aviation in general, but apparently there was a lot of hail that day.

http://avherald.com/h?article=4ac397e5&opt=4096
http://avherald.com/h?article=4ac39911&opt=4096
http://avherald.com/h?article=4ac39a76&opt=4096
 
Soku39 said:
Well the article mentioned that the A/P quit, that and, have you ever flown outside North America, Western Europe and the very largest international airports around the world? Well I have and trust me it's somewhat terrifying. Aviation infrastructure that's routine here, uh well not so much in Cameroon or Paraguay, Romania or wherever you happen to be operating. Let alone a broke, war torn country like Ukraine.. how often do you think flight check is out there at the ILS shack in places like these? Not my choice places to do a Cat III.
Click to expand...

I remember riding in a C-12 (King Air) into Manila under less than great conditions.

Me and the guy next to me could both see the pilot fighting but keeping it on the needles. Which was reassuring.... then we descended below the cloud ceiling VMC in the dark and out our right window was not only a sky scrapper a few hundred feet away but also a crane on its roof a good 300 feet above us at that point.

He and I just looked at each other like, "who the F! TERP'd this place out?"
 
Lawman said:
I remember riding in a C-12 (King Air) into Manila under less than great conditions.

Me and the guy next to me could both see the pilot fighting but keeping it on the needles. Which was reassuring.... then we descended below the cloud ceiling VMC in the dark and out our right window was not only a sky scrapper a few hundred feet away but also a crane on its roof a good 300 feet above us at that point.

He and I just looked at each other like, "who the F! TERP'd this place out?"
Click to expand...

Ah MAnila, the Teterboro of the Philippines
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top