Tuesday, August 28, 2012


Nothing too special here, just sliding down the ILS back into Toronto.  It was approaching dusk, so the lighting was pretty cool. 1080p makes it look better-er.

Even though I have done this at least a thousand times, I still love it.  It's also sometimes a bit of a challenge finding the freakin' airport in the field of lights that is Toronto.

Also, I'm still getting used to landing this airplane, but I lucked out on this particular one.  I think the trick is not to try to flare as I touch down - when I try to flare, it feels like the ass end of the plane is about to fall out, and we usually arrive with a little more 'thunk' than I'd prefer.  You can hear a short discussion between me and the other guy about my good luck right after the landing.  Nothing like aviation to keep a person humble :)

PS: Right at touchdown (around 3:44) you can kinda hear me say "That's bull-puckey", or words to that effect - despite my greaser of a landing,  I set the master caution lights off (red flashing lights on our panel) because I deployed the thrust reversers a half-second before the weight-on-wheels microswitches were fully engaged, which made the plane think we might have had an airborne deployment.  That'll teach me to be eager ;)

8 comments:

Christopher said...

Very high ambient noise there

Sulako said...

Yup. My magic video camera is my iPhone 4s jammed up against the glare shield. I have tried adding music instead of the wind noise, with limited success. Sooner or later I will get a GoPro, but that has yet to happen :)

Christopher said...

I suppose you don't hear it with noise cancelling headsets.

Ted said...

I deployed the thrust reversers a half-second before the weight-on-wheels microswitches were fully engaged But does it allow you to do that? I thought one would not be able to deploy the thrust reversers in flight

Jeremy said...

Regarding the flare technique: wouldn't that depend on landing weight? I'd think at higher landing weights the ground effect would slow your descent rate less and you'd need to consider more flare/back pressure? Or is the range of landing weights for this plane not all that large?

the Ambulance Driver said...

I stole a screen shot at end of the approach lights... With your permission I would like to use it as a lock screen wallpaper on my phone. I will not publish it elsewhere.

Unknown said...

I flew into Burlington exec at the same time, beautiful night!

Unknown said...

Funny enough, my avatar pic is from that flight