Plane makes dramatic landing amid high winds

‘That was pretty flippin’ insane,’ says Big Jet TV commentator

A Qatar Airways plane had a dramatic and bumpy touch down in Amsterdam amid high winds.

The Boeing 747 cargo jet was filmed struggling to land at Schiphol airport in the Dutch capital on 13 March.

The descent and rocky landing were caught on camera by Big Jet TV, which rocketed to fame when Storm Eunice hit the UK in February and saw hundreds of thousands of Brits tune into the channel’s livestream to watch planes attempt to land at Heathrow.

“EASY! Qatar Airways The Boeing Company 747-8F A7-BGB lands in crosswinds Amsterdam Airport Schiphol on Rwy 27 during our Members show,” reads the caption accompanying the Qatar clip shared on social media.

“A BA pilot recently told me the ‘procedures’ for landing the 747 in crosswinds. ‘Land her in the crab and swing the tail on touchdown, otherwise you can get caught out of shape’.”

In commentary from Big Jet TV’s Jerry Dyer during the video, he can be heard saying: “This is special. Haven’t seen this bird for a long, long…”

He shouts, “Whoa, no!” as the aircraft touches the tarmac before tilting dramatically to one side while being battered by strong winds.

“Flippin’ easy there, son!” adds Dyer after the pilot has managed to land safely. “That was pretty flippin’ insane, I gotta say.”

It follows last month’s Storm Eunice coverage, which turned planespotting into a national pastime – albeit only for a few days.

At one point, the pilot of Qatar flight QTR003 became an unlikely celebrity after attempting a total of three landings into Heathrow during the extreme weather.

Twitter held its breath on 18 February as the huge A380 performed two go-arounds (where a plane effectively takes off again when seconds from landing, before circling around for another attempt) – and exploded with appreciative memes and gifs when the plane finally reached the ground safely.

“Did not expect to be gassed at the landing of a Qatar Airways A380 today but we move,” wrote Twitter user Niran at the time.

“Bosh! She did it! Qatar Airways A380, we never doubted you,” added Jon Hyde, while Johnny Farrow tweeted, “I’m more emotionally invested in this Qatar Airways A380 on Big Jet TV finally landing than pretty much anything else in my life right now.”