A shocking video of a British Airways Airbus A320 attempting to land in Gibraltar demonstrates precisely why I’d rather walk than fly.
The incident happened on February 25 on Flight 492 from London Heathrow to Gibraltar. The British enclave on the tip of Spain is prone to winds, though this flight experienced winds like I’ve never seen. Just watch the videos below, especially the first one. Can you believe how windy that is?
As a result, the flight diverted to Malaga, about 60 miles away. Pilots must receive special training to land in Gibraltar, but this is something that would give even the most experienced pilot pause.
A BA spokesman played down the incident, issuing a brief statement:
The flight has landed safely and passengers have left the aircraft normally.
Due to strong winds in the Gibraltar area, our pilots decided to land in Malaga as a precaution.
The safety of our customers and crew is always our number one priority.
It is not clear how the passengers were transported from Malaga to Gibraltar.
When I traveled to Gibraltar many years ago, I flew into Lisbon and traveled overland across Portugal and Spain before reaching Gibraltar by foot from Algeciras. I later took a boat to Morocco and traveled south in Morocco by train. You can read that now-classic trip report here.
And next time I may just walk again rather than experience a flight like the one above.
CONCLUSION
I once experienced a flight like that on a regional jet flying into Washington Dulles. It wasn’t quite as bad, but we were rocking like a hammock. There, the pilot landed and other than my Malaysia Airlines incident I never been more afraid on a scarier flight. I thought sure the the wings (filled with fuel) were going to bang again the runway as we landed. We missed it by inches, not feet…
All this to say, flying remains the safest mode of transport. But high winds can be vexing and I’ve never seen anything like the video above.
Have you ever experienced wind to Gibraltar like the video above?
(H/T: One Mile at a Time // image: Tony Evans / Flickr CC 2.0)
I’ve done a go around at GIB before, quite routine there. Getting from Malaga to GIB isn’t particularly onerous.
I’ll go over to PPRUNE and see what the pilots have to say but this looks like a stuff up, I hope by the PF not by the automation.
And did they provide fresh underwear for the passengers in Malaga? 🙂
You do know that it’s a bumpy ride for the passengers, but these aren’t the windy conditions that are dangerous to flying.
“I’d rather walk then fly.” *than
@Matthew, maybe consider getting grammar software to help? Can’t blame you too much, since it’s just the 3 of you…
Left hand, right hand and middle hand.
Or is that legs?
Had a Qantas flight (742) encounter heavy winds on approach to PPT. We went around once, then the pilot literally slammed the aircraft down on the runway the second go around, apparently breaking something, as the continuation to LAX (we’d arrived from SYD) was delayed by almost 8 hours. We had opted for a three night stopover in Tahiti, so it didn’t impact our travel, but I was glad not to get right back on a plane that day.
There are only two places in the world I’ve felt the need to grip the armrests of my seat on approach and landing, one is GIB and the other is WLG.
Both are an experience.