Lufthansa A380 landed short of Munich runway during storm

A Lufthansa A380 landed 19 metres before a Munich runway on 17 August, damaging seven tyres and three runway lights.

The plane was arriving from San Francisco at Munich Airport during a thunderstorm, with heavy rain and poor visibility.

The runway’s ILS guidance system was unavailable, so the crew used a satellite-based approach with a virtual glide path calculated partly from air pressure.

Investigators say the crew saw the runway lights near the approach minimum, although they estimated visibility at 500 metres or less, below the required 800 metres.

The first officer continued and flew manually, and the aircraft descended below the intended path; the captain warned that it was too low two seconds before touchdown.

The A380 hit the runway with a force of 2.1 g, and the pressure-based guidance may have been affected by changing air pressure during the storm.

Lufthansa has instructed pilots flying certain aircraft on this approach to switch off the flight director and automated flight system from the published minimum while it reviews the issue with Airbus.

Investigators are still examining the incident, and a final report is expected within a year.