So a common expression amongst pilots is "a good landing is one from which the passengers can walk away, while an excellent landing is one after which the aircraft remains flyable." Kinda sets a low bar.
I would argue that the purpose of the flight has little to do with the designation of the launching facility: Rockets launch from a pad, and land via parachute, requiring rebuilding a large percentage of the vehicle in order to be ready for re-use, unless you're the space shuttle-- in which case you glide to a landing on a runway in similar fashion to a conventional airplane. (Though you'd be right to say that currently, at least, nothing of that ilk lands on a pad.) The vessel from which kamikaze pilots took off remains an aircraft carrier, yet they had no intentions of making the return trip that most of their comrades made. And though helicopters do typically rest on a helipad, one often finds helipads at airports.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2008-12-03 05:08 pm (UTC)I would argue that the purpose of the flight has little to do with the designation of the launching facility:
Rockets launch from a pad, and land via parachute, requiring rebuilding a large percentage of the vehicle in order to be ready for re-use, unless you're the space shuttle-- in which case you glide to a landing on a runway in similar fashion to a conventional airplane. (Though you'd be right to say that currently, at least, nothing of that ilk lands on a pad.)
The vessel from which kamikaze pilots took off remains an aircraft carrier, yet they had no intentions of making the return trip that most of their comrades made.
And though helicopters do typically rest on a helipad, one often finds helipads at airports.