The migration from Kai Tak to Chek Lap Kok is also a story of its own. All the staff and equipment were moved in a few hours from one to another while some of the planes scheduled to land on the new one were already mid-air.
Pilots are awesome. Aviation engineers are awesome. When I observe aviation, I'm always impressed. It really seems like one of the pinnacles of human achievement. Everything from the planes to the pilots to the ATCs and beyond... everyone is just at the top of their game.
As an aviation enthusiast, I was surprised to learn something from that video; If you look closely, the rear landing gear appear to align with the direction of travel. I always thought they were fixed.
I'm afraid that's an optical illusion, the main landing gear is indeed fixed along the yaw axis. However some aircraft have main landing gear units that can pivot somewhat along the pitch axis.
B-52 will do that: "A notable feature of the landing gear was the ability to pivot the main landing gear up to 20° from the aircraft centerline to increase safety during crosswind landings" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B52
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The more interesting video was the crosswind landing one at the bottom of the page. Really incredible!
If you want to see some more, check out the world famous approach at Kai Tak (Hong Kong), now out of use.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtnL4KYVtDE
The migration from Kai Tak to Chek Lap Kok is also a story of its own. All the staff and equipment were moved in a few hours from one to another while some of the planes scheduled to land on the new one were already mid-air.
Pilots are awesome. Aviation engineers are awesome. When I observe aviation, I'm always impressed. It really seems like one of the pinnacles of human achievement. Everything from the planes to the pilots to the ATCs and beyond... everyone is just at the top of their game.
As an aviation enthusiast, I was surprised to learn something from that video; If you look closely, the rear landing gear appear to align with the direction of travel. I always thought they were fixed.
I'm afraid that's an optical illusion, the main landing gear is indeed fixed along the yaw axis. However some aircraft have main landing gear units that can pivot somewhat along the pitch axis.
B-52 will do that: "A notable feature of the landing gear was the ability to pivot the main landing gear up to 20° from the aircraft centerline to increase safety during crosswind landings" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B52
Ah yes, I was watching it on my phone. Just rewatched it in 1080p and see what you mean.
It's hard to tell that they're moving forwards. It looks like they're just hovering straight down to the ground.