Yesterday we saw a hard and heavy landing of a giant Airbus A380. Smaller, lighter aircraft tend to have a different problem. In the right conditions, once they get into ground effect they seem to 'float' - drift on down the runway, almost as if they want to stay in the air rather than land. If they don't have a heavy load on board and have used up most of their fuel, it can be even worse. (Miss D.'s light aircraft does the same thing - it's got excellent lift, and is very light, so when she's coming in after a flight with almost-empty tanks it's sometimes hard to persuade the plane to get down and stay down!)
As an example, here's a Bombardier Dash 8 commuter airliner of Flybe, a British regional airline, landing at an unidentified airport in high crosswind conditions. Look how the pilot has to not only 'crab' into the wind, but work really hard to overcome ground effect and plant its wheels on terra firma. I recommend watching it in full-screen mode.
I've flown in several Dash 8's and similar aircraft in the US, Europe and Africa. All of them have exhibited that behavior when the winds are stronger than a gentle breeze. Interesting how some aircraft designs do that, while others fall out of the sky with an ungainly 'thump!'.
Peter
