Hard landings are a perennial issue for airlines, resulting in lost aircraft utilisation, ground delays and landing gear damage. With the Boeing 787 series in widespread use with airlines globally, this study aims to quantify the influence of several flight parameters on the vertical load factor at touchdown for the Boeing 787 using data from the aircraft’s quick access recorder (QAR). A hierarchical regression analysis was performed on 13 variables that were grouped into three sets: (A) Aircraft and Environmental Conditions, (B) Flare Parameters and (C) Final Manoeuvres. These sets were entered sequentially to predict touchdown load factor in Gs. The final model was statistically significant (p < 0.001), explaining 14% of the variance in touchdown G. Final Manoeuvres (Set C) was the largest unique contributor, accounting for 5% of the variance. Three flight parameters were found to be significant predictors: windspeed, vertical speed at 20ft AGL and stick pitch (forward). For the latter, pitch-down control input resulted in an average increase of 0.08G compared to a stick-neutral input.

In the current work, we study a stochastic parabolic problem. The presented problem is motivated by the study of an idealised electrically actuated MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical System) device in the case of random fluctuations of the potential difference, a parameter that actually controls the operation of MEMS device. We first present the construction of the mathematical model, and then, we deduce some local existence results. Next for some particular versions of the model, relevant to various boundary conditions, we derive quenching results as well as estimations of the probability for such singularity to occur. Additional numerical study of the problem in one dimension follows, which also allows the further investigation the problem with respect to its quenching behaviour.