I would imagine simulator practice is a good amount different from executing the real thing when your adrenaline is kicking in and they have a full plane. They are professionals that executed a complex task gracefully to minimize the terror that their passengers experienced (they balanced on the back wheels for a long time to bleed off speed and the landing seemed more graceful than many with all landing gear that I've had). Why not give them some props instead of taking them for granted? Maybe the pilots weren't too worried, but I'm sure the passengers must have been pretty terrified.
Just to nitpick, this landing technique is something every pilot has to demonstrate to an FAA designated examiner to get their first pilot certificate (or, the private pilot license). So it's kind of like saying "Wow, you did the thing every pilot has to do!". I get what you're saying though - there's an emotional difference between doing this when everything is fine and when you have a real emergency.
I suspected it wasn’t required for every pilot since most initially licensed pilots will train on airplanes that don’t have retractable landing gears in the first place.
But I guess the technique isn’t much different than if your nose tire blew, which might be included in all training?
Looks like flying with a retractable landing gear is a separate “complex aircraft endorsement” that “has no corresponding check ride or minimum number of flight or ground hours that must be completed.“
(Though that’s what the regs say, the schools that provide it do have those)
The technique is the soft-field landing technique, required for every pilot[1]. It's for landing on soft surfaces such as a grass strip. You must land with the mains first and keep the nose wheel held off of the ground for as long as possible, gently setting it down. You don't need a complex aircraft for this.
This is the same technique the delta pilot used, and by other pilots that had an abnormal nose-wheel deployment.
