On Monday Irma was a Tropical Storm which is still a challenge to fly around. Perhaps not as dramatic as the last flight to depart San Juan ahead of Hurricane Irma but snarling flights to be sure.
Allegiant 1497 from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania came into Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in the early afternoon. And video from meteorologist Ed Piotrowski shows “a plane battling strong crosswinds” and “drifting sideways” and unable to land. It’s quite something to watch:
Incredible video of a plane battling strong crosswinds at Myrtle Beach International Airport today They couldn't land! @nsj #scwx pic.twitter.com/uSXsEwr2uF
— Ed Piotrowski (@EdPiotrowski) September 11, 2017
The flight ultimately had to divert to Raleigh.
(HT: Jonathan W.)
I was on an Aloha flight into Honolulu that was diverted to Lihue due to one of the worst wind storms in decades. The pilot crabbed the plane 45 degrees to the runway almost until the wheels touched down when it somehow straightened itself out. It freaked out people on the plane who didn’t know why we were lined up aimed at such an angle to the runway, and the pilots didn’t tell us.
Does anyone know if the autopilot is programmed at all to handle these?
Most autopilots have a much lower crosswind limit than hand flying – say 15 knots instead of 40 knots. Also, autoland is typically used in poor visibility situations, not because it’s windy. Also, pilots actually do love to fly and are usually good at it! Here are some good answers on that question:
https://www.quora.com/When-an-airliner-has-to-land-in-severe-crosswind-does-the-pilot-themselves-have-to-control-the-landing-or-does-the-autopilot-do-it
I think a lot of questions on this blog world be best answered by Ken M.
watch some of the YouTube videos of crosswind landings at the old Kai Tak airport in HKG. Landings required disabling ILS during last part of the approach.
Somewhat underwhelming video when compared to this at Birmingham, UK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P9OAng32F0
Or this at Duesseldorf, Germany: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMvLuUJFHYk
Or this at Madeira: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkAFUazoFbM
This brings to memory, My sister and I were on a Southwest Airlines Flight in the early 90’s attempting to land at Will Rogers airport in OKC in a severe thunderstorm.
TWO GO AROUNDS >>>>>>
It was surreal, like a movie~ at night, lightning, heavy turbulence, a baby crying (for real, no shit) and a silence among the passengers except for occasional screams and individuals saying “good bye” to family.
I held my sisters hand, for the first time in years, I thought we were going to die.
We knew if we crashed, we would die together and peace came upon us.
The Pilot came on the intercom after the 2nd missed approach and said that we would divert to DFW, we rose to east and the weather & cabin calmed to applause.
What an experience!!
This was before everyone had a Cell phone, so many of these go only as memories.
I still love to fly, and wouldn’t change a thing.
Doni
Once flew from Halifax into Boston Logan. We yaw’d starboard for about half the flight. The pilot joked that he was looking at Montreal the entire time