Inches away from Death

Enthusiasts come within inches of death after military aircraft comes down short of the runway at Ballenstedt airfield in Saxony-Anhalt central Germany
Why do they let them stand so close to the end of the runway
Transall C-160 aircraft

And why are thet not running away i would have

Some of the onlookers closest to the road were forced to duck and dive for cover just feet (and possibly inches) away from its 131-feet wings and 15 foot propeller blades.

www.dailymail.co.uk...
More pictures on link
I know that you always want to be close to the action
But that is Danger close

Cran

Holy cr@p,

looks like he touched the street a few feet before the runway and then jumped above the lawn/fence onto the actual runway? Crazy...but the pilot must have mad skills to do that.

Originally posted by cranspace

Why do they let them stand so close to the end of the runway

Cran

It's an illusion, that plane bumped down a clear 150-200 yards short of the threshold, bouncing off a road. Expecting the pilot to land the aircraft properly, those people would normally have been perfectly safe.

On some runways, the pilots try to land close to the end of the runway, because the runway is so short. This particular pilot misjudged and touched down on the road short of the fence. Plane spotters normally try to stay close to the approach path to get a good view of the landings, and under normal circumstances it's not a problem.

Yeah, that's too close. haha But that's on the pilot, not the poor photographers.


And by the time they were able to figure out what was really going on, I doubt there was much time to even scurry away. Especially when you're are looking through a lens trying to get the shot.

Looks like he doesnt see the road is raised possibly higher than the flight path? Good job he is landing with a rugged war machine, I hope he never lands a boeing/airbus Im travelling in, might not have come out so well.

This is one of those situations, where I would rather accept my fate then try to run and die that way.

that plane bumped down a clear 150-200 yards short of the threshold

I would say nearer 50 yards you can see the taxiway for the end of the runway

and under normal circumstances it's not a problem.

Maybe but people still should not be that close to the end of a runway

I doubt there was much time to even scurry away

Well i would have been away on my toes sharpish
It must have been almost obvious it was coming in too low and that it was going to land ontop of them

Cran

If you are stupid enough to stand in line with the runway, you deserve what ever happens to you.

We can argue about optical perspective all day long, but the bearded crouched man closest to the plane in the OP photo surely looks as if he would have been really life-threateninglyclose to the propellers diameter if standing up.

The pilot actually admitted that the runway couldnt be seen from the cockpit. And still the landing was attempted in this obviously dangerous way. It was the decommisioning flight for the aircraft, and pilots anting to create a memorable impression has sadly been the cause for many an air display disaster in the past.

Anyway, looking for a reason, the linked article explains it all:

But pilot of 31-ton Transall C-160 aircraft suddenly reported she couldn't see start of runway from her cockpit ....

/tongueincheek

Glad noone was hurt

Perhaps they should have a feminine version of a Pilot, perhaps a Pilotette, just for patronisation of course. However, have you seen the chick who flies Typhoon for the RAF....I wouldnt mind dropping my load of high explosives into her Tora Bora....

reply to post by JIMC5499

If you are stupid enough to stand in line with the runway, you deserve what ever happens to you.

But it's fun! (when there are bikinis)