INSANE Video Of British Airways Plane Approaching Gibraltar In Heavy Winds

INSANE Video Of British Airways Plane Approaching Gibraltar In Heavy Winds

34

There are lots of videos out there of planes where most of us think to ourselves “boy am I happy I wasn’t on that flight.”

Well, I think this video might just be in a different league. There’s video footage of this morning’s British Airways flight 492, scheduled to operate from London Heathrow to Gibraltar. Due to strong winds on approach, the plane ended up diverting to Malaga (which isn’t too uncommon, as Gibraltar often has strong winds).

But OMG you won’t believe this video footage here:

I’m horrified watching that. There’s also video footage from inside the cabin, and surprisingly it almost looks calmer from within the cabin (though the second video is scarier than the first). Here are the videos from inside the cabin:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78ZDaQ0UYZg

I’m shocked passengers are being relatively calm.

Obviously the pilots were doing a great job, and they got the plane on the ground safely. One thing I’m not entirely clear on is whether this side-to-side swaying was directly the wind (and the autopilot responding to it), or if this was some sort of a pilot-induced maneuver to deal with the conditions.

But my gosh, that’s some crazy footage, eh?

Conversations (34)
The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.
Type your response here.

If you'd like to participate in the discussion, please adhere to our commenting guidelines. Anyone can comment, and your email address will not be published. Register to save your unique username and earn special OMAAT reputation perks!

  1. Emily Guest

    Your shocked the passengers remained calm? It’s because they’re British and that’s what Brits do. If they were Americans then they’d be calling their lawyers to sue the weather first thing and posting tweets about how they died on this flight

  2. John Guest

    Seems like pilot induced oscillation. If you look at the control surfaces from the second video shot from inside the plane, it seems they are reinforcing rather than dampening the oscillation.
    This is pilot error that used to be more common, but modern training should have prevented the situation.

  3. Diego Guest

    It was CLEARLY intentional. Just a "salute" maybe to ATC

  4. RTBones Member

    GIB is notorious for being difficult to land at. Low speed, strong variable crosswinds, terrain effects...right call made to divert. Looked like things smoothed out fairly quickly once the aircraft had climbed.

  5. Dani Guest

    I remember landing in BCN in a torrential rain storm. When I looked back at flightaware, everyone diverted but us at the time. The BA pilot came on after landing with a "you pay a little more, but we're British, a little rain is no problem, thanks for your business".

    Now if they could only offer a decent in-flight product....

  6. Kp Guest

    I think this has more to do with the terrain in the vicinity of the airfield, and the weather conditions on that day (strong winds) which gave rise to the turbulence / rotors that caused the roll. Once the aircraft climbed out of the disturbed air blowing off the rock, things calmed down pretty quickly. GIB is a challenging airfield for this, and other reasons - and diversions to Malaga are frequent.

    Pilot-induced oscillation...I don’t think this was a factor here.

  7. Stephen Guest

    Pilot induced oscillations, they stopped when they put the auto pilot on.

  8. A Consumer Guest

    I was on similarly turbulent flights in the 1960's. After three aborted landings, we would head for Morocco. The 'Dunkirk spirit' was still around then. Snowflakes - other than meteorological ones - had not yet appeared on planet earth. Franco would not allow British flights to overfly Spanish territory. Tangier was the diversion airport.

  9. Jas Guest

    On BA due to it's difficulty (even in normal conditions), GIB is a Pilots Only Landing and considered by most BA pilots to be the hardest that they (BA) do.

    Mind the BA pilots that manage to land a 747 onto SAN's very short runway also deserve much credit.

  10. ken Member

    did pilots do "a great job" here? I mean it is not crashed but doesn't automatically mean they did a great job. It could be them who caused this?

  11. Xanthum Gum Guest

    I am not a pilot or aviation expert by any means, but I have read a lot of Wikipedia...ha! Maybe someone with more experience can chime in, but I believe that aircraft motion shown in the first clip (from observers from the ground) is a type of aircraft motion called a "Dutch Roll". The animation on the Wikipedia page looks just like the video clip:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_roll
    Another site (https://sm4.global-aero.com/articles/dutch-roll-friend-or-foe/) says it can happen...

    I am not a pilot or aviation expert by any means, but I have read a lot of Wikipedia...ha! Maybe someone with more experience can chime in, but I believe that aircraft motion shown in the first clip (from observers from the ground) is a type of aircraft motion called a "Dutch Roll". The animation on the Wikipedia page looks just like the video clip:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_roll
    Another site (https://sm4.global-aero.com/articles/dutch-roll-friend-or-foe/) says it can happen when a pilot is trying to maintain directional stability when using the rudder pedals in a crosswind, which seems to be what may have happened here.

  12. Stephen V Guest

    @Arnold, I’m just happy you aren’t the one writing. Jesus, between your misspellings and your autocorrect alone, you barely make sense. Then when I finally decode your heiroglyphics, I realize you still have no reasonable point! Maybe just stick to reading the posts and take what you can grasp out of them and then move along. Probably better for everyone and will make your flask last longer, too.

  13. Jo Guest

    I had a similar experience yesterday while landing in Madison, WI. The plane was rolling side to side and nose dived at the very last moment right before landing. It was probably the worst landing I've experienced. My Uber driver from the airport asked me if I was on the terrifying United flight and I said yep, I was there. She apparently saw the landing while parked in the cell phone lot.

  14. Stuart Diamond

    You kids today. God, I sound old, lol. I really am "only" 55. I mean, you should have flown on "commuter" planes in the 70's. It's all good. Hang on and remember the old adage..."the pilot is the first at the scene of an accident."

    While I think the pilots might have considered aborting sooner (for the comfort of the passengers) remember that their comfort level (justifiably) is times ten compared to yours.

  15. Canuck Guest

    My parents live on the rock and tell me that flight couldn't land and got diverted to nearby AGP.

  16. KeepingItReal Guest

    ""If your plane is about to crash would you grab the attractive woman sitting besides you and plant a few big sloppy kisses since everyone is going to die anyway.'

    FUCK YOU DEBITT YOU ARE ONE FUCKINTG SICK FUCKING RETARDDD!!!!!1!!!!!!!

    FUCK YOUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  17. John Guest

    I like videos like this for two reasons- 1) when I am in a plane and there is wind/turbulence, I can think back on videos like this and say to myself, "Well it's not 1/2 as bad as that video I saw online" and 2) it gives me faith even if things feel dangerous, pilots deal with it and make good decisions. That said, I most likely would have been squeaking like a mouse and closing my eyes if I were on this flight.

  18. Another Steve Guest

    Only a private pilot with low hours...but I don't think that was crosswind correction, or at least not crosswind correction done well.

  19. Arnold Guest

    Ben and Lucky,

    I really enjoy your posts but for a non-pilot you both have some very strong options when it comes to flying and technical issues that are very miss leading some times.

    1. lucky OMAAT

      @ Arnold -- Curious what in this post you'd categorize as such? All I've said is that it looks terrifying *as a passenger*, and I actually posed a question regarding what was causing this, and didn't make any claims.

  20. Ken Guest

    It definitely doesn’t look any calmer from the videos inside. I would have no doubt s*** my pants.

  21. GNHR New Member

    Keep calm and carry on - the British default

  22. callum Guest

    Do whole cabins ever get hysterical in incidents like this? I can't imagine they would, and don't think it has anything whatsoever with them being British.

  23. Charlie H Guest

    @Robert - Pun intended. Although I didn't expect someone would catch it so quickly!

  24. Makp Member

    Many years ago my father worked in Gibraltar, one time waiting to cross the border/tarmac from La Linea we saw a Air Europe plane taking off, and the wind tipped the plane so the wingtip almost touched the tarmac, also saw 1 bird strike - haven’t seen anything like that since, but living on the rock you almost live in the airport.

    Only flew in onetime to Gibraltar, but got the famous around the rock...

    Many years ago my father worked in Gibraltar, one time waiting to cross the border/tarmac from La Linea we saw a Air Europe plane taking off, and the wind tipped the plane so the wingtip almost touched the tarmac, also saw 1 bird strike - haven’t seen anything like that since, but living on the rock you almost live in the airport.

    Only flew in onetime to Gibraltar, but got the famous around the rock on that flight -twice.

    My mom didn’t wanted us to fly in/out the airport, so she made our father drive to Malaga and pick us up and sent us off, even though the border cross was a nightmare at that time - Spain harassing Gibraltar.

  25. Robert Diamond

    @charlieH - nice use of the word 'roll' there :) hopefully that was intentional and not just a misspelling...

    What a ride!!!

  26. mike Guest

    some of the seats will never be the same

  27. Nrglobal Guest

    Lots of nervous laughter but British stoicism and humour (with an inflight drink or two) will help get you through anything. Well done BA pilots.

  28. Makeswedengreatagain Guest

    Wow, happy to not be on that plane.
    Here is another that first comes to my mind when i look at the video.
    Tu-154
    https://youtu.be/BYoIIEOFCvQ

  29. Charlie H Guest

    This looks like more than just wind. I wonder how much Pilot Induced Oscillations played a roll in that.

  30. Jordan Guest

    I went through that on an AA MD-11 years ago. That wing was flexing like you wouldn't believe.

    These things happen!

    All of my plane crash dreams (yes I have a few over the years) look exactly like that!!

  31. Bill Guest

    We’re on that flight this Sunday.
    Definitely NOT showing the wife this post!

  32. Oscar Guest

    Shocked? They are British!

Featured Comments Most helpful comments ( as chosen by the OMAAT community ).

The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.

Emily Guest

Your shocked the passengers remained calm? It’s because they’re British and that’s what Brits do. If they were Americans then they’d be calling their lawyers to sue the weather first thing and posting tweets about how they died on this flight

0
John Guest

Seems like pilot induced oscillation. If you look at the control surfaces from the second video shot from inside the plane, it seems they are reinforcing rather than dampening the oscillation. This is pilot error that used to be more common, but modern training should have prevented the situation.

0
Diego Guest

It was CLEARLY intentional. Just a "salute" maybe to ATC

0
Meet Ben Schlappig, OMAAT Founder
5,163,247 Miles Traveled

32,614,600 Words Written

35,045 Posts Published

Keep Exploring OMAAT