Heathrow Airport: Spectacular flight maneuvers | tagesschau.de

A sudden crosswind at London Airport led to a spectacular flight maneuver. A British Airways machine touched the runway with its fuselage – but the pilot was able to prevent worse.

With a spectacular maneuver, pilots of a passenger plane reacted to strong crosswinds on the approach to London’s Heathrow Airport. The Airbus A321 machine apparently touched down briefly with its fuselage on the runway after only one set of tires had touched the ground. Then the jet took off. In a second attempt, the machine that had started in Aberdeen, Scotland, landed successfully. Storm “Corrie” caused strong winds in Great Britain at the beginning of the week.

“Our pilots are highly trained to deal with a range of scenarios, including extreme weather conditions,” British Airways said. “Our crew landed the plane safely. All passengers and crew disembarked as usual.”

Crosswind landings are an integral part of pilot training

Such spectacular crosswind landings (“Crosswind Landing”) occur frequently and are therefore an integral part of pilot training. In March 2008, for example, a Lufthansa aircraft was hit by a gust of wind from Hurricane Emma while approaching Hamburg. The captain prevented a catastrophe with an aeronautical masterpiece.