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3. "RE: Kai-Tak"
07-05-03, 08:15z
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It's true about how nimble a 747 is, it flies like a much smaller airplane in some respects. It has a particularly good roll rate, so that made the Kai Tak approach a little easier. However, an unstablized approach, particularly with respect to your speed, in an aircraft like that can be a recipe for disaster.
One of the things that light aircraft pilots aren't used to taking into account is the fact that much of the roll control at low speeds in a 747 (and most other jets) is accomplished with spoilers. So when you see a video like you were describing where a 747 is rapidly rolling out of a bank in or just prior to the flare, you have to realize that the act of rolling out of that bank is killing a large amount of lift on one wing. If you are already slow, you are going to pick up a huge sink rate very low to the ground, possibly with crushing results. There are ways to counter this, because this happens on every crosswind landing for example. You can carry a little extra speed (although this isn't recommended at Kai Tak due to the length of the runway) or you can leave the power on just a little bit longer through the flare.
I've written a column about the differences between landing a light aircraft and a 747 which will be appearing on the website soon.
As far as your question about the sim training, that approach was programed into the sim, but it was not required to be practiced prior to flying the actual approach. Mark
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