Emergency No Flap Landing into CLT

SO, after a 30 minute flight from Charlotte to Lynchburg, the pilots tried lowering the flaps but they won't go down. Since Lynchburg's runway isn't long enough, they made a 180 degree turn back to Charlotte. The full length of the runway was used and we came in at a faster approach speed with a flatter approach angle. The pilots beautifully executed the landing and flight attendants handled the situation well. Firetrucks were on standby and thankfully the aircraft landed without any complications. However, the flight was delayed until 8pm. After getting on the plane again and sitting for over an hour, we deplaned and was delayed until 10pm. 10pm came and it was delayed until 6:45am!
Aircraft: CRJ-200
Tail #: N249PS
Flight #: AA5112
Scheduled Dep: 4:18PM @ CLT-LYH

[@joshriver75]

All things considered that was very smooth landing!

[@christianlofaro6285]

yes,it is! i think as you!

[@Trehugindrtlvr1]

Had a no flap landing in Kona, HI, from SFO. Crazy how much faster it felt! And, since Kona has a pretty short runway, I felt what (I assume) MAX braking feels like - kind of like your face and organs are getting ripped out of place. FUN!

[@JoeDFWAviation]

Matthew Thrasher uhhh Kona doesn’t have a short runway, it’s 11,000 ft long

[@schumi246]

You sure it was Kona, and not Maui (OGG)?? Like the previous reply says, kona’s runway is 11,000 feet, Maui is only 7,000 feet.

[@night-lc1vc]

Kona's runway is like 2 miles

[@williamcorrins2346]

@@night-lc1vc .The airport is not Kona in video.

[@_rxkii4962]

Such a liar, konas runway is 4km long not short at all

[@markdougherty8203]

3:34 you can just see the emergency equipment chasing after the plane :-)

[@redblade8160]

Mark Dougherty Why didn't they get the "Hurst cars" chasing the plane as well?

[@interstategar]

This happened to me on a flight SFO-PHL in a 757. Unknown to anyone but one passenger on the RHS one of the front slat sections on the front of the wing came off and dropped into the bay. I talked to him afterward. First he had to get ahold of a flight attendent who then told the pilots. The pilots go on the phone and talked to Boeing. By this time we were at the border of Nevada. It was decided to fly back to SFO. We landed much faster and the whole runway was lined with fire trucks in case the brakes caught on fire. We took it slow to burn off fuel and put less stress on the right wing. As we deplaned I heard gasps at the large section of the front wing was just gone. We waited and caught another 757 that was in maintenance. They added oil to one of the engines and we took off for Philly. United gave us $7 bboucher for a sandwich. With the soda it was $10 LOL

[@mikehunter1483]

The pilots wouldn’t have spoke to Boeing 😂. They don’t have the manufacture on speed dial. They spoke to the airlines tech ops. They have manuals and procedures from Boeing.

[@interstategar]

@@mikehunter1483 Boeing was contacted on whether to land at the nearest available airport or could they return to SFO where United has a large maintenance facility. The said "we r in contact with boeing about this situation". Which meant United was in contact with Boeing. The pilot never told us what the issue was. We all found out deplaning and saw a large section of the control surface was missing.

[@sgninjaop7162]

The landing, My lord it was smooth asf

[@opienick]

Although I hated doing my first one in training they’re very fun to fly because you’re going faster

[@moriver3857]

Wow, that took the entire runway length. Great job, of the crew, and the camera person, even as people are chatting in the background.

[@jwm239]

...lack of headwind contributed also

[@ben_doom1958]

He used the entire length on purpose, you can even hear the engines spool down way before the end of the runway, so he didn't need reverse thrust all the way.

[@Nareimooncatt]

@@ben_doom1958 he paid for the full runway, he'll use the full runway.

[@_al1k_]

​@@ben_doom1958 I am very certain that the reverse thrust is turned off at ~60 kts (depends on airplane) because it becomes ineffective at lower speeds, however the brakes remain turned on until the aircraft reaches a safe speed to taxi off the runway.

[@HDNYCAviation]

Thanks for sharing the footage - definitely took alot longer than what i'm used to with a crj-200 landing.

[@IO-zz2xy]

Damn you came in like a jet fighter and an increadably smooth touchdown. Good one guys. Regards from South Africa

[@darrylr.4983]

I flew the CRJ200 from 2003-2005, it's known for having flap issues. No flap landings are practiced in the simulator and really aren't a big deal as long as the runway is long enough. In fact the jet usually lands really smoothly because of the extra speed. Only time there's a "pucker factor" is if you don't have the fuel to get to a longer runway somewhere.

[@shreddder999]

Yeah, the challenging part is the higher speed pulling into the gate!

[@crfdln]

The extra speed does not contribute to the smoothness of the landing as much as the flatter approach angle to the runway. The glide slope is below the standard 3 deg.

[@norbert.kiszka]

​@@crfdln correct. However landing without flaps "somehow" can be even easier for the pilot because of much higher and faster response from flight controls and less problems caused by wind gusts - but as always - it depends.

[@patolandia666]

Nice view... a safe landing... 10/10

[@yazikhodayar]

I guess, all the passengers forgot to pay for the flaps when they got there boarding passes.

[@DBR00]

Really nice video. Thanks for sharing.

[@brendendas]

Brilliant landing, you guys were coming in HOT!

[@kayz4]

that pilot has some insane skills

[@crazylegs1324]

I worked on these planes for PSA Airlines and still work on the 700’s and 900’s. Thankfully we retired all of the 200’s. CRJ 200’s were getting way too expensive to maintain. Not to mention, they sucked to work on.

[@bobx6179]

Thank God u guys made it down safely and the pilots brought it down safely with ya'll on board

[@85JaymanUK]

looks like he kept the nose up a few more seconds for aerodynamic braking

[@delta_5088]

Look, at least it was a crj-200 and not a 777

[@clearpropflying460]

Delta_508 So true😂😂

[@savvyplays8942]

Did this in a 767 once at DFW. Came in HOT after dumping our fuel to meet the firetrucks. We all got double mileage credits for a flight to Maui in exchange for contemplating our mortality. Haha

[@focks703]

lol

[@leonardhowell2437]

The CRJ has a hypercritical wing. When flaps work, pilots shit their pants on landings...no flaps must have been hell!

[@dbbeaulieu5371]

Damn took the whole runway!

[@theprof73]

Why would anyone fly a 3-hour drive?? By the time you drive to the airport, go through the BS, board, taxi, fly there, taxi, deplane, arrange ground transport, drive to your final destination, etc, etc you'd be there already with your own car.

[@ArtStoneUS]

Some history. The Charlotte airport was a main hub for Piedmont airlines, which flew lots of flights to and from small towns in North and South Carolina primarily. Eventually it merged with Pittsburgh-based US Air, and a few years ago American airlines acquired US Air. The airport has a museum, and one of the planes is a Piedmont DC3. The other really significant airplane was the one that landed in the Hudson River.

[@ChrisGugliuzza]

umm not everyone has a car? Also, will definitely still be faster flying. It's just a simple domestic flight, you don't have to be at the airport so early.

[@ArtStoneUS]

@@ChrisGugliuzza especially college students from Liberty University

[@0ki7o]

Those are really tiny speedbrakes!

[@joachimgoudschaal8927]

These aren't real speedbrakes - Spoilers main purpose is to reduce lift, making it possible to descend the plane without speeding up to much. Surely they also help slowing down they plane a little after touchdown but primarily they are extended to prevent to plane from bouncing up in the air again if they hit the runway to hard.

[@ben_doom1958]

@@joachimgoudschaal8927 If you hit the runway too hard the plane WILL bounce back into the air. But you're right, the spoilers are used to reduce the lift of the wings after landing, so that the plane gets more weight on the runway for better braking performance. You could say they make it easier to hold the plane on the ground, even if there is a strong gust of wind.

[@razorfett147]

Just a case of "every little bit of braking helps"

[@paulosteffen9131]

Perfect landing...!!!

[@hakkanyildirim5323]

Great landing, luckily the runway was dry

[@Kiera_Jackson74]

Whoa that's a fast landing! Seen one once from the ground and scared the shit out of me...

[@carolfreitag6847]

Smooth landing even with out flaps engaged 👍🏼🛬

[@danielaramburo7648]

Did you look a longer runway? Or the same runway you took off from?

[@ossyrover1982]

Great landing

[@whattheduck5414]

Smooth landing

[@burtonrider316]

ah the good ole rj 200. i miss flying that little thing

[@christiankelly6321]

Wow what a day that must've been

[@vashisl33t]

a 360 would point you back in the same direction you were already going what you mean is a 180 degree turn.

[@RobbyBoy167]

Damn they took the entire runway

[@viperdriver82]

Thought that thing would never stop 😳

[@jude_the_apostle]

It took 1.5 miles to stop that CRJ. You guys were fast as fuck

[@samishmathews2544]

Luckily for them Thrust reversing,spoilers and wheel brakes did the job..So no issues

[@jimtalor7971]

What emergency?! The reason he was slow to engage reverse thruster, because he knew the drogue chute will deploy!! Happy Landing!

[@RiDankulous]

I'm glad you are all safe and sound. Wow stuff whizzing by for a *long* time was quite scary and I wonder if the plane is designed to handle such a high speed on the runway. I bet the breaks were molten pools on the runway.

[@firstname2807]

A no flap landing is practiced pretty regularly by crews. Not easy to master due to the very narrow operational speed range but every crew flying today is more than proficient.

[@jimbob100-d3l]

wasn't a big deal at all

[@JeffreyStrader]

No flaps just means a higher than usual approach speed.

[@christophermercado5466]

That's a pretty good landing considering no flaps.

[@hellohjbgjh]

I don't understand just some rather small flaps can reduce a speed so much !

[@joachimgoudschaal8927]

Well they don't: that ain't real speedbrakes - spoilers main purpose is to reduce lift, making it possible to descend the plane without speeding up to much. Surely they also help slowing down they plane a little after touchdown but primarily they are extended to prevent to plane from bouncing up in the air again if they hit the runway to hard. I would assume the gearbrakes do 60-70% of the stopping, reverse thrust 20-30% and the spoilers maybe 10%. 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@hellohjbgjh]

@@joachimgoudschaal8927 It still reduces before landing since if they have not extended the flaps, the plane lands with very high speed and need the whole runaway to come to a stop, no?

[@joachimgoudschaal8927]

@@hellohjbgjh Yeah like a said, they reduce the speed a little bit but most braking power comes from the gears and reverse thrust.

[@karhukivi]

Flaps don't reduce the speed, they allow the pilot fly the aircraft at a lower speed without stalling because they provide both lift and drag - subtle difference! In fact the aircraft has to be slowed before the flaps can be deployed, each setting of the flaps has a specific speed maximum. While speedbrakes are sometimes used to help descend more rapidly, their main purpose is to slow the aircraft by aerodynamic rag at the higher speeds on touchdown down to about 60kts and the wheelbrakes are for the lower speeds down to a stop.

[@sarabrookins7206]

Landed from VPS to ATL without flaps, was very scary.

[@jamesgovett2501]

I would just like to know technically just why the flaps didn’t deploy, I’m not interested in any maybe this or maybe that but what exactly was the reason whether hydraulic, electrical or mechanical but I guess I’ll never know I spose

[@paulcazza]

Supposedly the plastic screw drives that activate the flaps are designed for much less busy airplanes - the CRJ-200's are heavily worked and all those take-off and landing cycles shorten the working life of this component. Having no leading edge device also adds to how vital the flaps are for this model.

[@AdamGbl95]

Wow. The passengers actually didn’t clap for once! Phewph

[@user-km4zc6of2n]

В Актюбинске Ил 86 сел вообще с потерянной третьей частью закрылков ....повезло лишь тем , что и с левой стороны и с правой отвалились одновременно..... борт 86 007 на память.... потом все самолёты встали и третью щель приклепали ко второй.

[@leedrummond164]

Looked like the flaps were alright to me. Isn't that what the things are that come up on the wings when it lands? Looked like the pilot didn't bother using them.

[@ChrisGugliuzza]

those are speedbrakes..

[@thaihell6868]

Reverse trust and auto brake are hero

[@2nd-amendment707]

Going to have to go out of service for the flaps and the brakes.

[@PurserArts]

Will be worst if one flap goes down and the other one stay there. This is a flapless landing...not much to worry about, just a faster speed while touching down

[@abstractbybrian]

So what are we talking about here? An extra 35 KIAS OR 50-60 KIAS?

[@robertbould2638]

Crj 200 full flap landing=151 knots Crj 200 no flap landind=181 knots

[@oldphantomflyer]

Looked a lot like a fighter landing speed, my estimate around 150-160 knots. Fighter no flap/slat is more like 200 knots.

[@norbert.kiszka]

I guess in airliners without flaps will be not possible to land with below 180-190 knots, because its to close to stall - especially when without slats.

[@hbuetow]

I am curious as to whether pilots routinely test the flaps mid-flight?

[@jadefalcon001]

They do not. Flaps would be damaged if deployed at cruising speed.

[@kingofnothing1433]

Landing without flaps is not really a big deal. At normal landing speed you would need only slightly more than half the runway to slow down and turn onto the taxiway. With no flaps you obviously come in faster and therefore you use up more runway to slow down before turning onto a taxiway. Not only would the pilots use a little more breaking pressure, obviously they would also leave the reverse thrust on a little longer. All commercial airliners have three means of slowing down. 1. Reverse thrust 2. Speed brakes (called spoilers) 3. Landing wheel brakes.

[@hari07vk]

Cool man but wath is the flap ?

[@mrtodd3620]

Flaps are the trailing surface of the wing, that when extended downward during landing, allows the aircraft to maintain lift at slower speeds. And slower speeds mean a safer landing. In the video, the plane is landing fast because the flaps couldn't be extended. This is hard on the brakes and can take a longer distance to stop, thus requiring a longer runway.

[@TheBillzilla]

The brakes would be nice and toasty after that.

[@SuperLittleTyke]

Remind me, a reluctant passenger, what the flaps are for and why not having them matters.

[@mareksroka5629]

Flaps are the part at the back of the wings that can extend in order to increase the lift (at the expense of more drag I suppose, but I'm not expert). This allows to fly at much lower speeds without dropping like a stone. If you don't extend flaps, you need to fly much faster when landing, and hence need much more runway in order to come to a stop. (and apply more pressure on the breaks which can put them on fire from the increased friction)

[@robertbarlow6359]

I bet them tyres are sssss..smoOkiiin !

[@burtonrider316]

nah. in that situation you use all the runway and let the reversers slow you down. brakes stay nice and cool

[@Nmdixon-cu7vm]

@@burtonrider316 you’re right about that. They definitely used the entire runway just by seeing the markers on the ground.

[@bsimic29]

And based on video description they tryed to fly to destination again using the same plane. They wouldn't have done that if brakes were fried.

[@robertbarlow6359]

@@bsimic29 They 'tried' to fly to same destination again ?

[@cinovrazer712]

landing without falsps is smoother

[@gerardmoran9560]

Smoother in some airplanes but with a heavy transport you may have a Vref 60 kts higher.

[@emm2174]

Waouwhhh!!

[@bdsmusman7349]

Expert. .

[@Vintage-ModelsandEngines]

I'm not sure why they'd call an emergency? The CRJ's flap system is not its strong point.

[@stevehuntley3089]

I thought he said , "No FAP" landing...

[@newaxys]

how do you turn back , making a 360 degree turn ?

[@yazikhodayar]

Do a backtrak off the runway.

[@newaxys]

@@yazikhodayar you do not mean that serious ?

[@yazikhodayar]

@@newaxys actualy i'm a CJ3 first officer and, yes that's what we do when we miss a taxiway.

[@newaxys]

@@yazikhodayar Yea everyone ist s First Officer and s Pilot on KZbin. I know what you mean but i am not sure thats what the comment was refering to. Anyway happy easter

[@yazikhodayar]

@@newaxys you too man.😊

[@r.o.1330]

......the background chatter and the passenger filming the landing instead of being head down in crash position would suggest this wasn't the emergency it was claimed to be.

[@bigtaxrefund]

the emergency was that the flap motor didnt work

[@siriusfront4489]

We pay for whole runway, We use whole runway

[@sarasotasage6135]

I can't believe the passengers didn't clap?! If ever there was an appropriate situation, this was it! Were they unaware of the situation? I've been on many flights where passengers clapped upon landing after a bumpy flight. Their blase reaction seemed kind of odd.

[@agustinbarquero8898]

Please do NOT clap in any situation. In some countries it is even illegal. Pilots are trained to do such landings. It is nothing extraordinary.

[@mareksroka5629]

Most were likely pissed to be back at their starting location, the huge delay-to-come screwing their plans.

[@swbrand]

No flaps? You just get to the bar quicker!!!

[@AhmedAli-xv7xj]

The Pilot is your Uncle

[@John170B]

When you gotta take a shit but clt slows you down to 180 30nm out.

[@Ryan-mr9dg]

It would be cool to get this synced up with the atc @vasaviation

[@GGanon]

Thank god at least the left Phelange was still working. Otherwise they would've been screwed

[@manikrn007]

He used the whole runway. OMG. Scary

[@clearpropflying460]

Mani Kurian Wasn’t really that scary. The main reason for using the whole runway was because the pilots had less of a risk of overheating the brakes. Because, of course, the landing speed is much faster without flaps.

[@manikrn007]

@@clearpropflying460 I never said it was scary for you. I said it was scary for me. And please stop stating the obvious.

[@manikrn007]

Thanks for the video btw. You did a good job with the camera.

[@clearpropflying460]

Mani Kurian sorry man, didn’t mean to make it sound rude

[@manikrn007]

I'm sorry for being a jerk.

[@Ghastify]

this real life? nah it’s microsoft flight simulator.

[@jimbob100-d3l]

This really isn't a big deal. Seems like we are making something out of nothing here

[@thomasbayer2429]

No flap landing is aok...just go way faster, I find I long ass runway.

[@RonMeleScubaNut]

I flew the CRJ-200 for 16 years. I did two no-flap landings in one day and never declared an emergency…it is a non-event.

[@Jdinrbfidndifofkdndjoflfndjdk]

That's a writeoff

[@aprilb1233]

Is this really considered an emergency landing? People were chatting and laughing and seemed completely unconcerned.

[@jeffdrake770]

Not an emergency

[@karhukivi]

It is if the pilot declares one. There could be concerns about hydraulic pressure or insufficient fuel, especially if the weather is also an issue at the intended destination.

[@Ozgrade3]

It's not an emergency landing, rather a "non-normal". Flapless landings are nothing special other than a higher approach speed. The aircraft handles the same, the brakes work the same. They are not even particularly difficult. Every pilot gets trained for flapless landings...it's nothing special.

[@burtonrider316]

i liked doing no flap landings in the sim on the crj 200..because then i got to feel what it was like to land with a nose up attitude for once haha. I loved having the 900 guys or a mainline pilot in the jump seat because it freaked them out when we were nose low on approach

[@gerardmoran9560]

It can be "special" if you're landing on a remote or island airport with a wet runway. Some transport category aircraft have approach speeds 60 kts higher with no flap config.

[@Soccerfan13]

Typical American Airlines, 1950s planes, always something wrong

[@bobx6179]

Probably a failure in the flaps. Pilots are trained to test them mid flight. Something possibly a flap failure or something broke inside the flaps to make them not to come down

[@joachimgoudschaal8927]

It's not possible to test flaps at mid flight while cruising a normal speed - they would have to slow down to a certain speed for this because otherwise they won't extend to prevent damage.

[@jimbob100-d3l]

Yeah they aren't tested mid flight. No idea where you got that from

[@joejordan1259]

The commercial jetliners can fly with half a Rudder no ailerons and no flaps they're only there for the comfort of the passengers.

[@bsimic29]

Flying with no ailerons? How pilots control roll on such aircraft? How do they stabilize the plane during turbulence and windy conditions?

[@zeltar5088]

More fun when they crash and explode