'Europe's scariest airport' - video shows planes tackling crazy crosswinds

Online Editors

Published 25/02/2016 | 07:01

Nervous flyers might look away from this hair-raising video of flights approaching Funchal Airport in crosswinds.

Madeira's main runway often appears on lists of difficult (and scenic) landings, due to its situation between mountains and the Atlantic Ocean.

The below video, posted on YouTube by Ruptly TV, an international video news agency headquartered in Berlin, shows aircraft it says braved 49mph crosswinds to land (or pull out of landings) at the airport this month.

One plane appears to veer sideways, approaching the runway at a nail-biting angle, before correcting at the last moment to land safely.

Another plane pulls out of its landing attempt.

Funchal's runway has been extended since it opened in 1964 - most recently in 2000, when it was lengthened by just over a kilometre using a platform built on concrete pillars partly extending over the ocean.

Previously, it had been as short as 1,600m. A TAP Boeing 727 overran the tarmac in 1977, killing 131 of the 164 people on board.

Watch more:

VIDEO: Plane's nail-biting landing during summer storm at Schiphol  

WATCH: Storm Barney forces plane to abort landing at Cork Airport

TRAVEL TV: The world's most spectacular landing... and Ryanair's Superbowl surprise 

 

Source: 'Europe's scariest airport' - video shows planes tackling crazy crosswinds