LAdiablo wrote:
would like to know if the tires were old or the plane landed too hard on one side. coming in from LA it is always a big left turn into the SJ airport and i have seen the ground coming up fast while the plane is still at a decent angle. to the point i thought the wing is going touch first.
the left side of the plane definitely touched first and it was like a shock absorber but i'm sure those tires were under a lot of pressure.
LAD,
If you are coming in from LA non-stop, you would be on heading 150 or so (I don't know the exact route). I thought they always go around and use runway 07 because it's the only one with ILS. At least everytime I flew in from El Sal/Guate, it was on 7. But if there are really strong winds from the east, they may prefer to land on 25 into the wind. Plus, I believe that LA flight comes in the morning, so they really wouln't need the ILS, it's still nice out, they could just land visually, without ILS. I'm not doubting you, but I'm not sure why the controller would vector the plane to have to make such a sharp turn onto such a short final since there is no obstruction (mountains, buildings, etc) for miles coming in from the west. Cheap bastards in TACA probably just wanted to come straight in to save a little gas.
Or maybe it was the one eyed pilot showing off.

We actually reviewed that Taca flight which landed on a levy in New Orleans with no engines in my flight class. That
was a friggin miracle.