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As record-breaking winds smashed through the UK during Storm Eunice, commercial airline pilots have faced the daunting task of landing a plane full of up to 400 passengers in the chaos. One man even streamed the entire ordeal at Heathrow Airport, one of the busiest airports in the world, to almost 200,000 viewers and commentated as each pilot battled powerful crosswinds and successfully landed each plane.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.Now, a pilot has released footage from the cockpit of a Boeing 777 flight as they safely landed the massive plane at Heathrow on February 18. It is alarming to say the least. Faced with gale-force winds, Captain Khalifa Al-Thani wrestles with the control column to keep the plane steady, despite being blown sideways as it enters the final stages of landing.
The storm has now claimed multiple lives as trees continue to fall all across the UK, with wind speeds reaching 122 miles per hour (196 kilometers per hour) and setting new records for the fastest wind gusts in the area.
As a result, many planes have aborted landing in Heathrow and other UK airports, returning to their origin, but some pilots faced the winds and managed to land. Wind shear (the difference in wind speed or direction over a short area) and strong crosswinds are some of the most dangerous challenges a commercial pilot may face, and Eunice has no shortage of sudden changes.
