UPS Boeing 747 Makes Wild, Fiery Taipei Landing During Typhoon

I guess we should be happy this didn’t have a worse ending, but my goodness…

UPS Boeing 747-8’s wild landing caught on video

This incident happened on the night of Wednesday, August 13, 2025, and involves UPS flight 5X61, which was operating from Hong Kong (HKG) to Taipei (TPE). The flight was operated by a seven-year-old Boeing 747-8 with the registration code N613UP.

The flight took off from Hong Kong at 5:50PM local time, and was making the short 501-mile journey to Taipei. Ordinarily, that flight takes a little over an hour, but yesterday was no ordinary day.

Weather at the airport was bad due to Typhoon Podul, meaning that there were strong wind gusts. Around 70 minutes after takeoff, the plane was near the airport, and entered a brief holding pattern, before attempting to land. Due to the challenging conditions, the pilots executed a go around. They then set up for another approach, before executing a second go around.

Then on the third approach, which took place roughly 2hr20min after they first departed Hong Kong, they landed successfully. Well, or they landed successfully in the sense that the plane came to a stop, and there were on injuries.

However, the plane didn’t stay in one piece. As you can see in the landing video, the plane suffered an engine pod strike during landing, and a cowling even separated from the engine.

I’m curious to see how long that plane stays grounded. Replacing the engine cowling isn’t that complicated, though one certainly wonders if there may have been structural damage from this incident, or something. This video really shows you how sturdy these planes are. I can’t imagine how this must have felt onboard the plane (fortunately it was just the pilots and cargo).

This should’ve been a third go around, no?

The first video above is of course shocking to watch. In fairness, the angle at which the video is filmed can often exaggerate how extreme things actually were. You can see the pilots coming in at a crab angle, which is fine, but then moments before touchdown, their angle gets more extreme, rather than straightening out with the runway.

It almost looks like the left wing is going to strike, before that situation is reversed, and the plane dips to the right. It’s interesting how the pilots don’t execute a go around. After having performed two go arounds, all of this certainly points to a case of “get-there-itis,” where the pilots prioritized reaching their destination at all costs, even when faced with an unstable approach… no?

Bottom line

A UPS Boeing 747-8 attempted to land in Taipei during some very bad weather resulting from a typhoon. While we see planes land in all kinds of challenging conditions, this one wasn’t quite as seamless as we otherwise see. The plane performed two go arounds, and on the third approach, it finally landed… but it lost an engine cowling in the process.

What do you make of this crazy UPS jumbo jet landing?