why they land those 57:s so hard at S.N.A.?

Question

i know the runway short but half the time im wondering how that landing gear took it

Answer 1

Orange County Airport (or John Wayne) has a really tight noise restriction rule. Aircraft operating out of there climb VERY steeply and level off rapidly (while cutting back power) in order to pass over the monitoring microphones with the minimum amount of noise. Failure to do so results in a fine to the operating airline (yes, they do know who just took off and what airline that is).

Landing is much the same. You want to come in steeply to have the maximum altitude over the microphone, which results in the least amount of measured noise. The steep approach results in a very short flare and touch-down, but it is by no means a hard landing, which is a techinical term that means the stresses on landing exceeded the design limits.

The runways at John Wayne are plenty long enough for heavy jet transports such as the 757. A friend of mine rode a '57 out of John Wayne once and he claimed it was a total "E-ticket ride." Loved it!

Answer 2

It's a short runway. Get the aircraft on the ground quickly and all the weight on the wheels and get it stopped. Pretty much the same idea at any airport with limited runway length. Chicago Midway, New York LaGuardia to mention a couple.

Answer 3

KSNA is John Wayne international and its longest runway is 5700 ft which is not long for a air liner so I am not surprised they come in slow with a fairly high sink rate which makes for hard touchdowns.

Answer 4

Noise abatement requirements make for unusual approaches and landings at SNA. They make for truly exciting takeoffs, especially if you don't know what's coming.

Answer 5

They really don't... they may have an issue with run way length.. .so have to stick it and hit the TR's in order to make it.

Answer 6

i think you mean 757's and what is SNA