Leeds Bradford Winds - Friday 28 Jan 2008
We were to fly to Dublin on Friday (28 Jan) from Leeds Bradford airport (the highest above ground airport in the UK). Unfortunately, however, the wind was at about 100 MPH, and after several aborted attempts, we ended up in a hasty taxi ride to Manchester, at 2am to catch an early morning flight instead.
We watched with horror as several planes came in and made some landing attempts that can only be described as frightening.
(un?)Fortunately for us, we didn’t have this pilot:
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/LAljM7CaY10" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
Here he is again:
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/D6eA_gyKtH0" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
I think a grand total of two planes managed to touch down all day, so this was some effort! Having said that, we watched a couple bail out at the last possible minute who could very easily have ended up in serious peril, so I do question the wisdom of this maneuver in such gusty winds…
Ryanair’s profits are down by 27% according to Times Online -I can see why. No wonder they didn’t want to pay for us to be transferred to another airport.
Your pictures of the approaching aircraft and its landing are superb. Good pilot, good skills. Well done him. He landed his plane notwithstanding the sideways wind, a brilliant piece of aircraftsmanship, and well done you, for filming it.