Continental mishap 12/22

Danny W said:

Flight 512 from EWR to POP aborted its landing just a few hundred feet from the runway at the POP airport on Dec.22nd. I was a passenger, and as the plane zoomed away from the airport they announced that it was due to wind conditions.

We circled landed successfully from the opposite direction, but the funny thing was that there was absolutely zero wind when we reached the runway. When I got outside the airport, I was met by my wife who told me that only one of the wheels had come down on the 1st. approach, and that's why we aborted.

Interestingly, we had been delayed on takeoff from Newark because a tire was being replaced. Coincidence? Oh well, all's well that ends well. - D

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Probably standard procedure, the pilot was obviously testing the landing gear on the replacement tire side before coming in for the true landing. Nothing like the early days of commercial aviation. I remember once, on approach to the airport, the pilot put the DC3 into a series of acute turns, where the wings were practically vertical to the ground, to the consternation of the passengers. Later, we learned that the landing gear had become stuck, and the pilot tried the unorthodox procedure to get them unstuck. Upon return, a malfunction of the starter was creatively fixed, when a pickup truck drove parallel to the plane's wings, and a rope was wound around the propeller. One quick yank with the pickup and the propeller started turning...

Wind wind and more wind

PIC is not going to be close to touchdown unless he has 3 green lights.

Your wife may have seen only one wheel (What kind of a crop duster were you flying with only one out of at least three sets coming down?) :squareeye from her vantage point, but any airliner showing only one locked gear would not be within 1000' AGL of touchdown.

Lot of factors, I doubt the pilot would lie about a mechanical versus a weather.

Depending on the type of aircraft, weight and prevailing winds, you don?t always have a lot of ?extra? runway for error

If the tower had reported ?winds out of the North at 15k and they were actually out of the south (Assuming you were on the main runway 8&26), your landing speed has changed by almost 30k, not a good situation when you suddenly stall and drop out of the sky

Likely the pilot found the wind conditions were exactly opposite as reported and decided to go around and land INTO the prevailing winds

You did say he went around ?? and landed from opposite direction?

Winds at 100? may have been very different than those experienced at ground level, it could have ben wind shear or many other meterological problems. Do they have doppler wind shear RADAR at POP?

Danny W said:

I'm out of my league here. I can only report that we were very low and took off again, when we landed there was not the faintest breeze, the observers on the ground said that not all of the wheels were down and the pilot announced that our takeoff was delayed due to a tire change.

Whatever - it was a first for me. - D

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Likley the only people that will ever know for certain were on the flight deck, glad you had a positive outcome
:squareeye

Malory said:

Winds at 100? may have been very different than those experienced at ground level,

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That's a fact.
I can sit in my ground floor apartment, with stagnant air, and the people on the 3rd floor have papers flying around their apartments.

i guess this is why everyone claps on landing in the DR

(i gotta say..i do a very quiet clapping when i land here in the US now)