London Heathrow. Monday 13th March 2023. With more than 100 flights into and out of Heathrow cancelled or diverted today, stormy weather with high gusts of wind made for some interesting viewing (and I'm sure flying!) - Here is British Airways A380, G-XLEK arriving from San Francisco with the BA 286 - callsign Speedbird 6 Bravo which didn't perform one go around, but two!
On the first landing attempt, the aircraft appears to touch down but clearly the landing was not considered safe, as we see XLEK lifting off again from Runway 27 Left and climbing and turning south to re-enter the holding pattern.
10 minutes later (15.17) the wind has increased, blowing from 220 degrees (runway direction is 270 degrees) and gusting up to 29 knots. G-XLEK this time discontinues the approach before the runway threshold and climbs away sharply, re-entering the hold.
On the third approach, at around 15.25, a Singapore Airlines A380, 9V-SKR - SQ308 from Singapore, immediately ahead of G-XLEK, also performs a go-around. Not a good omen for XLEK! However, the crosswind component reduces sufficiently for XLEK to successfully land. Well done to the crew for their professionalism. Not sure I'd have liked to be the crew or passengers on board having to face 2 go arounds!!
12 мар 2023
