A passenger aboard the world’s largest plane who filmed remarkable footage of their gusty landing in Christchurch said he had shivers when he saw how crooked the plane was.
Tanuj Uppal was coming back from a holiday on the Sunshine Coast, via Sydney, when the whole cabin of the Emirates A380 started shaking 10 minutes before landing.
“Being a big bird, having that kind of turbulence – going up and down in the air – it definitely felt like the winds were quite high.”
On Monday, more than 80 flights around the country were cancelled as the South Island grappled with extremely strong winds. That included many flights into Christchurch. An Air New Zealand spokesperson said it had limited ability to put on extra flights to deal with the backlog of passengers, although a few additional turbo-prop services had been added.
Tanuj Uppal
Moments before touchdown on the A380.
The A380 is the largest passenger plane in the world, and Emirates uses it to fly daily to Christchurch. It’s equipped with many advanced features, including a passenger bar, and cameras so that passengers can watch where they are going.
Uppal said when he turned on the camera, as the plane was lined up for landing, he couldn’t see the runway. “Then I realised it was on my right.
“My wife was holding onto my hand,” he explained.
The incredible footage shot by Uppal shows the pilot battling a strong crosswind, with the plane pointing significantly left moments before it lands.
Uppal can be heard saying “Jeepers! Look at the angle,” just before the plane touches down.
It was giving him “shivers,” Uppal told Stuff Travel. “I’ve seen footage like this on Youtube of planes landing in a crosswind, but this was my first time ever of actually being part of that!”
Tanuj Uppal
Pilots are well trained for crosswind landings.
As soon as the plane lands, the pilot straightens the aircraft, and it glides down the centre of the runway. It’s known as a crosswind landing which is standard for pilots, who are well-trained for them.
On Monday, planes were using runway 29 at Christchurch Airport, which is more suited to the north-westerly wind. However, the A380 is too big for that runway, so had to use the main one and battle the crosswind.
“As soon as the plane touched down, the breaking was pretty hard, and everything that was not stowed or secured was flying around pretty much.”
Brook Sabin/Stuff
The Emirates flight as it touched down.
Uppal said he loved the Emirates experience on the A380 and had praise for the pilot. “That was the whole reason for us choosing the flight, we wanted to experience it. They have a beautiful bar, the staff are exceptionally nice, and everything about that plane is amazing.”
Air New Zealand is still dealing with the fallout of yesterday’s weather, saying it has limited options for additional flights. “We have, however, been able to run a couple of additional flights on our turboprop aircraft from Christchurch to Wellington return and Wellington to Nelson return to help get our customers to their destination.”
You can watch the full video of the landing above.
