Scary! Planes struggle to land at Birmingham Airport during Storm Brian

just thought some of you'd be interested in these gnarly landings. i'd be nervous as a passenger.

"Scary video has emerged showing planes struggling to land at Birmingham Airport against fierce crosswinds during Storm Brian.
in video filmed on Saturday (October 21), pilots appeared to come close to losing control as their planes sway from side-to-side as they approach the runway."

People would pay good money for a ride like that.

originally posted by: IgnoranceIsntBlisss
People would pay good money for a ride like that.

They did !

a reply to: RoScoLaz5

Pucker time.

They look like helicopters landing...not airplanes.

Very cool video.

What a rush......as long as they safely landed.
Restrooms at the airport suddenly overcrowded afterwards ?
Time to "freshen up a bit"

And the pilot definitely wasn't a "newb"

originally posted by: Metallicus
They look like helicopters landing...not airplanes.

Very cool video.

I thought so too.
Mean semi sideways headwind
with sporadic shears.
Frightening.

My Grandfather loved
flying the B-52 because he said it came in head
down and the landing gear could be steered to land
with wheels straight ahead and body slightly sideways.

a reply to: RoScoLaz5

Wow, the look like they almost stalled at points and were just dropping after.

Kudos to the pilots who made sure to get the plane straight before sticking the wheels.

Pilots call it 'crabbing' into the wind. In a strong cross wind they have to fly into it or lose altitude too quickly. At slow speed during landing approach, theres this point they cross over from flying 'sideways' (like a crab walking) to landing straight. Theres this sudden dip towards the ground as the plane loses lift.

Looks scary because it is.

I've been more than one flight where we came a bit sideways. That's not the bad part. It's the violent jerk you get when the wheels finally touch ground. The whole plane suddenly corrects itself.

a reply to: LogicalGraphitti

Yes, and my last touchdown ....the pilot nailed a choppy, buffeting gusty day but the wheels were never felt......twas an airbus.....lower case on purpose....if Boeing gets one more hit for anyreason......

I WISH TO NEVER HUNT.....AGAIN

I think winds that press the plane down onto the runway suddenly are the most dangerous, aren't they?

a reply to: carewemust

It's called a microburst. It slows the plane and pushes it down. It caused a Delta L1011 to crash in Dallas many years ago. They happen around thunderstorms.

a reply to: RoScoLaz5

that pilot is a phucking hero.

a reply to: odzeandennz

Pilots land in those conditions more often than you think. They train to handle them.

Yep, step on the high wing.....the ailerons wont do it by themselves....

a reply to: Zaphod58


Thank-you. I see that Microbursts are so dangerous, airplanes have systems to detect them.

en.wikipedia.org...

a reply to: carewemust

Airports use weather radars to try to detect where they might be before they move in, and pilots report any type of wind issues on landing as well so they can pass it to other aircraft. They're not something you want to mess around with.

I bet they heard a lot of SINK RATE alerts.. nasty air there... As long as ATC gives correct wind data, most will land fine.
Still. the pucker factor is there.

originally posted by: carewemust
I think winds that press the plane down onto the runway suddenly are the most dangerous, aren't they?

You rarely get those types of "downburst" winds except in the vicinity of a mature thunderstorm. What the aircraft in the video were dealing with was a gusty variable direction wind situation. If you are on final approach in a wind with a 40 knot component and the wind suddenly drops to 20, you suddenly go from an airspeed of, say 130 knots to 110 knots. Since lift depends on airspeed and angle of attack, lift decreases and you
descend. A wind direction shift to the side of 30 degrees gives the same result since the sine of 30 degrees is .500. A 250 ton aircraft can't accelerate instantly and jet engines take a while to spool up in power. The old Boeing 727 was perhaps the worst. It might take a full 10 seconds from pushing the thrust levers (throttles) forward to see actual full power. That's one reason you feel the engines at partial power on final approach almost to touchdown.