On this attempted landing at Heathrow Airport, Feb. 18,2022 the pilot decided to go around. Image from Big Jet TV video.The arrival of storm Eunice at Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom yesterday resulted in strong crosswinds and elevated heart rates as airplanes were landing on runway 27L. In many cases, they aborted the approaches and decided to go around.
Big Jet TV was on the scene streaming live for nearly eight hours, providing Olympic-like commentary as the big planes attempted to get on the ground during winds that gusted up to 70 mph. At one time the live stream had 200,000 viewers and about 24 hours later has had more than 6 million views.
Jerry Dyer shot the video from a platform on top of his van as he narrated what was happening with many of the planes heavily crabbing against the wind gusts. As the aircraft in the photo above aborted the landing a few feet above the runway (at 1:14:10) he shouted, “Ohhhhhhhhh nooooooo…. he didn’t like that!”
“He’s not having that. He’s not having any of that,” he said as another pilot decided to go around. And at other times, “Easy! Easy!”, “Are you sure? Are you sure?” “Drop it! Drop it!”, and “Yeahhhhhh! Nicely done!”
If you have eight hours to kill, check out the video below. Or, just sample it.
10 Comments
I landed in Shannon, Ireland a couple of days ago. Wind was 69 knots on final. I think surface winds were gusting to 49.
It was sporty, to say the least.
Strong winds over there in the winter aren’t that uncommon.
Pffffft, I could’ve pulled any of those off. 🙄.
The difference is that at Shannon, the winds are down the runway, or within a few degrees. Our alternate was at London, where the winds were a little less, but the crosswind much greater.
The crosswind and the gusts are the challenge at Heathrow, but even on a calm day, Heathrow sucks. If you’ve ever been through, you’ll understand why.
what is your flight experience and credentials to say that?
Sat in a couple of airplanes once, drew a neat picture.
What’s yours?
[LMAO] @ Doug
In 1948 I landed the Spruce Goose at Lukla Airport in Nepal with a 70kt crosswind, severe jock itch and no rudder…while delivering a baby. It was dicey because my cargo was a 20 kiloton H-bomb.
Here’s the best.
I can’t recall the first year I saw that, but I’ve watched it regularly since then and will probably never lose the admiration I feel for those pilots every time I see it. It would be cool if the Heathrow guy could edit his epic down to something that size.
Thanks for finding this, Bill.
The final approach speed on my kitfox was 50 mph. The local airport here in Ellensburg, WA has a runway aligned with the gap wind that comes through Snoqualmie Pass. I once flew backwards when I slowed to 50 so I increased my speed to 70 and touched down and stopped on the numbers. Turning off the runway and taxiing back to the hangar was sporty.
But could you do it with a cat stuck in the wing?
https://youtu.be/J_8mdH20qTQ
Comments are closed for this article!