Monday, March 03, 2008

Video: Lufthansa Airbus A320 in dramatic crosswind landing attempt

You may have seen this video, or stills captured from it, on a news broadcast. Shot by an amateur at Hamburg, Germany, the video shows a dramatic landing attempt on Fuhlsbuettel Airport's Runway 23 in strong and gusty crosswinds. (Various news reports about the incident mentioned gusts with windspeeds of up to approximately 150 mph.)

At one point the tip of the left wing of the Lufthansa Airlines A320 briefly touches the ground, just before the crew initiates a go-around. According to various news reports, the aircraft later landed safely, but minus one winglet. A story about the incident on CNN.com quoted a Lufhthansa spokesman who said that the plane "is already back in service."

The incident happened on Saturday (March 1, 2008) as the aircraft was arriving on a scheduled flight from Munich with more than 130 people on board. The weather conditions were caused by a powerful winter storm that swept across Europe over the past weekend. The weather disrupted air traffic at Hamburg, and several other locations, causing many flight delays, and several diversions.



(If the video does not display or play properly above, you can view it here on LiveLeak.com.)