Ramapriya wrote:

While we were awaiting takeoff clearance at Khartoum recently, an
Ilyushin IL76 Syrian Air cargo plane landed. Just prior to touchdown,
it kinda flattened out from its nose-down final and clearly did a
3-point landing. I was looking at the plane from my starboard window
seat.

I worked on the expansion of Hartsfield back in the late 80s. The Piedmont 737
FLUFs used to make similar approaches. They would basically come in in a dive,
level off just above the runway, and touch down. The nosewheel would definitely
be off the ground at touchdown, though, but not by much.

I guessed at the time that the pilots used that approach because Piedmont flew
into a lot of fairly short fields (like Asheville). Years later, I had an
opportunity to talk with a high-time retired 737 pilot. He stated that that type
of approach was commonly used for short fields, especially ones with obstacles
(which defines Asheville real well). I assume that Piedmont just used it for
every airport as SOP.

Never saw any other airline bring in 737s that way. Never saw a Piedmont 737
landed any other way.

George Patterson
The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.