Position: Twenty miles southwest of BIBQU; ILS runway 3 KABQ
Altitude: 14,300 feet
Groundspeed: 270 knots
Indicated Air Speed: 230 knots
Equipment: A319
Pax-on-Board: 123 plus 1 jumper
Airborne...
It has been one of those days... Started twelve hours ago and have been short-hopping, as in a Cessna 402. I will be happy to get back on the trans-con routes and promise no whining for a couple of days. The local time at KABQ is 0001 hrs; I can feel beard stubble on my face. It goes with the coffee spots on my shirt, left of the tie. The wife-of-my-youth can see those from 50 meters in fading light.
Flight deck and cabin crew are pooped... We are looking forward to the ABQ motel room doors closing behind us.
Flight spoilers fully extended...
Approach control has cleared us for the ILS runway 3 which we requested for ease of taxiing to the terminal. The surface winds are out of the east at 5 knots, clear night skies, 29.66 on the altimeters, and 60 degrees F, i.e., a perfect ABQ evening.
BIBQU is about twelve miles from the end of the runway and has a crossing altitude of 8,000 feet. I have twenty miles to lose 6,000 feet and slow down 30 knots... No problem. I can see by the movement over the ground that we have a tailwind. The inertial units are showing 40 knots on the tail.
At 210 knots, extend the leading edge slats... Spoilers still shredding lift. I change the heading fifteen degrees right to intercept the localizer beam outside of BIBQU giving myself two banking turns to shed more energy.
Over BIBQU...
Crossing at 8,200 feet and 190 knots with 35 knots on the tail feathers... Groundspeed about 225 knots.
Uhh... We might have a problem here.
Co-pilot- Wind check, please...
KABQ Tower- zero nine zero at five knots...
Co-pilot- Roger that, we have thirty on the tail over BIBQU
Flaps and gear are extended before TECZA (outer marker or in today's vernacular, glideslope intercept altitude). Slow down to 140 knots indicated over TECZA and finish the landing checklist... Still thirty knots on the tail.
The co-pilot and I discuss the tailwind and decide to continue, thinking it will die out or swing away from the tail before too much longer. A few minutes ago another airliner landed on this runway and there was no mention of a tailwind on final.
1,000 feet...
The wind is shifting left of the tail; component is about 26 knots. Groundspeed is 166 knots plus or minus a few.
500 feet...
I can feel it coming... Tailwind component is hanging in there at 26-28 knots. Unbelievable! Even if the wind quits before touchdown, the airframe will have a lot of excess energy to shed on the runway. It is a risky maneuver to land with a 20-25 knot package of surplus energy, especially when the crew is tired.
300 feet...
Cursing will not help matters, so I keep a lid on it. Ahead, the runway surface is being illuminated by two electric suns hanging out of our wings; inertial units are still showing 35 knots quartering tailwind... Maybe a 27 knot tail component. The ground is moving under our feet too fast for 140 knots indicated airspeed. My little red "uh-oh" warning light is flashing in the back of my brain... Better pay attention. It has never let me down before.
Me- This isn't gonna work... We are out of here.
Co-Pilot- Yeah, I'm with you. Too much wind...
Thrust levers to max power...
The twin V2500 A-5 engines, already stable at 40%, accept the flood of Jet-A without a moment's hesitation. Acceleration forces mash everyone hard into their seats as I raise the nose, quickly, to 20 degrees above the horizon, then let it settle to 18 degrees.
Raise the flaps one notch for the get-out-of-Dodge maneuver... Positive climb rate and gear up.
Lord O'Mercy, this thing is getting with the program... Watch the flap speeds el Cap-i-tan!
KABQ Tower- ah... Turn left heading two seven zero and climb to seven thousand five hundred. Too much tail wind?
Co-pilot- Roger that... Never saw less than two five knots on the tail.
Thirty degree left bank, lower the nose, and pull the thrust back to climb power; all at the same time... We are blowing through 1,000 feet above the ground. The indicated airspeed is approaching flap speed limits for the current configuration. I ask the co-pilot to raise them to the next notch and we will keep that... No need to go bombing around the pattern with our hair on fire.
190 knots... Heading 270 degrees... Level at 7,500 feet... Auto-pilot number one ON...
I pick up the PA and talk to the passengers in my 90% perfected Robert Stack Captain's Voice. While I am talking, I notice the right-seat is entering runway 21 into the nav computers and talking to tower. Gotta love this kind of co-pilot; they can read a captain's mind and take care of business without having to be told.
OK... Pax and cabin crew informed. I reach for the checklist and review it for anything I might have forgotten... Nope, looks good.
Tower clears us to reverse course for the visual approach to runway 21 which has no published instrument approach, so instead, Fi-Fi nav created a virtual five mile fix on final and recommends we cross it at 1,500 feet above the ground... Perfect!
More flaps... Slow to 170 knots... Descend to cross the five mile fix 1,500 feet above the ground
Here we go for the second attempt at an ABQ runway. I am approaching the five mile fix at an angle greater than ninety degrees. This makes a lot of pilots nervous because we, as an industry, are mostly vectored in to the runway final at angles of 45 degrees or less, usually less. The gear should be down, flaps set for landing before you cross the five mile fix and do not forget to allow for the tail/head wind effect on the turn to final. If your ducks are quacking-in-sequence before the turn to final, it works out perfectly and you look like a Hero of the Airborne Realm.
I will use the southwesterly tailwind as free energy, turning early and letting the wind slide me onto the final ground track of 214 degrees... Put her nose into the wind a few degrees to stay on that track. And so it goes at 0012 hrs local time.
1,000 feet...
The wind that ruined our first approach to runway 3 is still with us, except now a quartering headwind of 30 knots. Groundspeed is about 125 knots... Much better.
The wind will quit before we land, probably in the last 100 feet. I bump the approach speed ten knots and get ready for a higher sink rate when the headwind disappears.
Cleared to land... Wind calm...
Twenty-six knot wind component at 500 feet. Auto-thrust OFF and re-grip the control stick with a sweaty hand. At 300 feet... twenty-five knots; the Electric Jet's nose in the wind maintaining ground track. Get ready...
Military hangars, ramps, taxi-ways, runway 8-26 all pass underneath on short final... Instinctively, I start adding thrust. And as it must be, the wind quits as we pass over the runway threshold... Raise the nose a bit and keep the thrust in... Watch it! The airspeed settles at the original approach reference before I bumped it ten knots. Start decreasing thrust and relax the pitch... She has transitioned to the zero wind conditions.
The main landing gear tires touchdown smoothly 100 feet beyond the 1,000 foot paint stripes. Reverse thrust never felt so good; finally, we have arrived KABQ.
No bravo sierra...
We are two tired pilots coming down from an adrenalin high of an aggressive balked landing and go-around. Maintaining sterile cockpit is doubly important now... No BS'ing while we taxi to the gate. Tower is taking us to the gate, giving clear and concise transmissions, but, and it's a big but, we are crossing active runways in the dark after a long day of up and down flying.
Orange wands ahead...
Yeah Baby! Orange wands ahead! Those are our rampers...
Co-pilot- been three minutes... Number two?
Me- Yep, shut it down.
The co-pilot cuts the fuel for number two engine after a three minute cool down. Electrical relays clack behind us as number one generator picks up the load.
A hard right turn and the nosewheel is on the lead-in line. Test the brakes out of paranoia... Yep, working. Ease her up to the jetway and slow, slow, slow... Stop. Set brakes and keep your hand away from the number one engine kill switch... Wait for ground power to be plugged in.
Another green light...
Overhead, a green ground-power light illuminates... Wait a couple of seconds. It might be teasing you... OK, looks like it will stay ON. Cut the fuel to number one engine and relax. Door L-1 opens... The sound of the V2500 A5 engine winding down floods the forward cabin. I really like that sound... A lot.
Checklists complete... Start taking your cockpit nest apart. It is a short overnight; need to sleep fast.
Life on the Line continues...
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