The incredible video in this post captured the skilful manoeuvre that led to a successful touchdown of the world’s largest passenger plane.
Taken on Feb. 16, 2020 at London’s Heathrow airport, the incredible video in this post captured the skilful manoeuvre that led to a successful touchdown of the world’s largest passenger plane.
Two pilots flying an Etihad A380 in fact pulled off a dangerous crosswind landing as Storm Dennis battered the UK.
Extraordinary footage captured Winds of up to 50mph were recorded at the capital’s main airport, after severe weather warnings were issued across the UK and Ireland.
According to SkyNews, dozens of flights were cancelled at Heathrow, but the Etihad pilots managed to land with one attempt, directing the 573,794kg (1.26 million lb) plane across the runway to carry out a “crab” landing – a highly skilled manoeuvre where pilots fly the plane into the wind, perpendicular to the runway as they land.
The footage shows the landing gear’s wheels eventually touching down, pointing across the runway instead of forwards, before the aircraft swings round to face the right way.
One person has been killed and flood alerts have been issued across the country as Storm Dennis brought strong winds and heavy rain over the weekend.