A “missed approach” at Toulouse

When showing up to a party is is a good idea to make a grand first impression, right?  So what about buzzing the field at Toulouse?  I like it.

Our arrival at the Airbus facility was a spectacular event, highlighted by the expert fly-by executed by the first officer on our Condor air 757-300.  Sitting in the middle of the plane, I knew that we were low to the field and I knew pretty early on that we were long on the approach.  But just now, flying back to Los Angeles, I have had a chance to view a video taken from the cockpit and know just how close we were.

The voice of the computer counts down the approach.  Fifty. Forty. Thirty. Twenty!

That’s right…Twenty.  Feet, I think.  That’s pretty ridiculous.  And we cruised pretty much the length of the runway at that altitude.

And then the shouts from back in the cabin – sheer excitement as we cruise on down the field so close, yet so very far away from touching down.  Finally, at the end of the runway, an ominous “six hundred remaining” is heard as the end of the runway is clearly visible and we’re very clearly still not on the ground.  And then the thrust of the engines and only clouds and sky visible through the cockpit window as we climbed out and around for our actual landing. 

Yeah, we made one hell of a first impression!

The second movie here is of the actual landing.  Mostly the same except that we actually bothered to stop that time around.  Still plenty of excitement from the cabin.