Not having to worry about taking off ever again, I'm sure, added to their confidence level. They probably put stresses on the engines and frame that would not be recommended.

Still, neat to see.

According to Wikipedia, this stunt landing was done "to commemorate the site of the fatal crash of Otto Lilienthal," the German Glider King.

That's nothing. Take a look at this.

A 747 normally requires 11,000 ft to land, but the Longreach strip was only 6,000 ft. All the QANTAS pilots wanted the job of flying it in so it was done by ballot and the winner had to undertake 4 months of simulation in landing on such a short strip...he crashed several times. As with the original link, this was a one-way trip, as the runway is too short to allow the plane ever to take off again. They flew the plane in with just enough fuel to make the one-way trip and with no passengers or freight, because the weight needed to be kept down to the absolute minimum to make the landing at all feasible.