VIDEO: Planes Struggle to Land in Stormy Winds

Being a pilot is not an easy job.

When you think about the fact that dozens of lives are in these people’s hands… Well, that’s quite impressive!

Watch planes struggle to perform extremely bumpy landings in stormy winds!

Fortunately, they all have great pilots on board!

According to Wikipedia, aircraft usually land at an airport on a firm runway or helicopter landing pad, generally constructed of asphalt concrete, concrete, gravel or grass. Aircraft equipped with pontoons or with a boat hull-shaped fuselage are able to land on water. Aircraft also sometimes use skis to land on snow or ice.

To land, the airspeed and the rate of descent are reduced such that the object descends at a low enough rate to allow for a gentle touch down. Landing is accomplished by slowing down and descending to the runway. This speed reduction is accomplished by reducing thrust and/or inducing a greater amount of drag using flaps, landing gear or speed brakes.

When a fixed-wing aircraft approaches the ground, the pilot will move the control column back to execute a flare or round-out. This increases the angle of attack.

Progressive movement of the control column back will allow the aircraft to settle onto the runway at minimum speed, landing on its main wheels first in the case of a tricycle gear aircraft or on all three wheels simultaneously in the case of a conventional landing gear-equipped aircraft, commonly referred to as a “taildragger”. This is known as flaring.

In a light aircraft, with little crosswind, the ideal landing is when contact with the ground occurs as the forward speed is reduced to the point where there is no longer sufficient airspeed to remain aloft. The stall warning is often heard just before landing, indicating that this speed and altitude have been reached. The result is very light touch down.

In large transport category aircraft, pilots land the aircraft by “flying the airplane on to the runway.” The airspeed and attitude of the plane are adjusted for landing. The airspeed is kept well above stall speed and at a constant rate of descent.

Factors such as crosswind where the pilot will use a crab landing or a slip landing will cause pilots to land slightly faster and sometimes with different aircraft attitude to ensure a safe landing.

Other factors affecting a particular landing might include: the plane size, wind, weight, runway length, obstacles, ground effects, weather, runway altitude, air temperature, air pressure, air traffic control, visibility, avionics and the overall situation.

For example, landing a multi-engine turboprop military such as a C-130 Hercules, under fire in a grass field in a war zone, requires different skills and precautions than landing a single engine plane such as a Cessna 150 on a paved runway in uncontrolled airspace, which is different from landing an airliner such as an Airbus A380 at a major airport with air traffic control.

Required Navigation Performance is being used more and more. Rather than using radio beacons, the airplane uses GPS-navigation for landing using this technique. This translates into a much more fluid ascend, which results in decreased noise, and decreased fuel consumption.