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Heavy Winds Chase Boeing 737 Away From Runway, Pilot Still Wins

You’d think the sheer size and weight of passenger airplanes would be enough to ensure they do not fall victims to nature’s whims, most frequently manifested in the form of winds. But you do have to keep in mind though that wind is pretty much an unbeatable force, especially when going against machines designed to ride them.
Boeing 737 trying to land at LKPR 6 photos
Photo: Airplane Pictures/RN/Twitter
Boeing 737 trying to land at LKPRBoeing 737 trying to land at LKPRBoeing 737 trying to land at LKPRBoeing 737 trying to land at LKPRBoeing 737 trying to land at LKPR
As a quick recap, we’ll remind you wind is nothing more than air that moves thanks to differences in pressure. Airplanes exploit air, making it move faster over the top of the wings, thus decreasing air pressure on the bottom of the wing, which, in turn, results in lift.

But oftentimes, especially during takeoff and landings, air takes its revenge, and pushes against the same wings, and the rest of the airplane, with a mind of its own, endangering both the machine and the people traveling in it.

The Internet is filled with videos of aircraft trying to take off or land against the power of the wind, and almost all of them are a testament to pilot skill, as almost always the battle ends in the airplane’s favor.

That happy ending can be in the form of an applause-assisted touchdown, or a go-around, a course of action opted upon out of caution. It’s the latter type of happy ending we have in the video here, showing a Boeing 737 of an undisclosed airline on approach at the Václav Havel Airport Prague (LKPR) in the Czech Republic. The video was published by Airplane Pictures last week, but we’re not told when it was shot.

We see the plane come in from over the head of the one filming, exposing its rear end. It’s immediately obvious the plane is having some wind problems, as it banks slightly to the left. It then does the same on the opposite side, this time in a severely more pronounced manner, and then to the left again, almost touching the ground with its wing.

It is during this third dangerous push that the pilot decides enough is enough and throttles up, going up to make another attempt at landing, perhaps when wind is not paying as much attention to what’s going on.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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