A dramatic footage has emerged showing a British Airways plane almost flipping over while landing due to intense winds.
The BA flight 1307 was approaching London Heathrow Airport, travelling from Aberdeen, but the pilot abandoned the scheduled landing as the aircraft was buffeted by strong winds caused by Storm Corrie, CNN reported.
The plane was forced to take off again after the wheels had hit the tarmac and can be seen leaning heavily to the left after touching down.
The nail-biting footage shows the plane swaying and being precariously supported by only the wheels on its left side. It also appears that the aircraft’s tail almost touches the ground but the pilots somehow maneuver out of it, taking off again before the plane could overbalance and flying back around for a second attempt.
A321 TOGA and Tail Strike!
A full-on Touch and go, with a tail strike! Watch for the paint dust after contact and watch the empennage shaking as it drags. The pilot deserves a medal! BA training could use this in a scenario – happy to send the footage chaps 😉#aviation #AvGeek pic.twitter.com/ibXjmVJGiT— BIG JET TV (@BigJetTVLIVE) January 31, 2022
The man recording the footage appears confident at first, believing the plane would land without much trouble, and can be heard saying, “he’s got this one, he’s lucky,” as the plane approaches the runway.
“Yeah, he’s got that,” he adds.
However, when the jet starts tipping over, he can be heard shouting: “Easy, easy, easy! Oh my God!”
The flight touched down safely following the aborted attempt, the airline confirmed.
“Our pilots are highly trained to manage a range of scenarios, including extreme weather conditions, and our flight crew landed the aircraft safely. Our customers and crew all disembarked as normal,” a British Airways spokesperson told The Independent.