Historic Vertical Landing Of Airbus A380 By Skilled Etihad Pilots at London Heathrow Airport

Two pilots of Etihad Airways created a historic landing when it landed vertically an A380 Airbus at London Heathrow airport amid crosswinds from Storm Dennis, last Saturday (15 February). The A380 Airbus is owned by Etihad Airways, UAE, and the aircraft was flown from Abu Dhabi to London.

Landing Vertically Using The Crab Landing Method

The landing method is known as ‘crab landing’, a landing method where pilots land during heavy, crosswinds, by flying into the crosswind and landing perpendicular to the runway.

The two Etihad A380 pilots remain unnamed.

A380 The World’s Largest Passenger Airplane

What has impressed everyone in the aviation industry is that this landing method requires highly trained skills , and is dangerous to execute. What’s more impressive is that this involved maneuvering the largest passenger aircraft. The Airbus A380 is the worlds’ largest passenger aircraft, with a capacity for 517 passengers.

Storm Dennis In London

Winds at the airport reached 50 mph, according to Sky News. At least 170 flights were grounded, and a total of 300 flights were canceled at the surrounding London airports, including Heathrow, Gatwick, and Luton.

Farah I, Writer & Researcher

Farah Ishak is a Content Writer at Halalop. She grew up in the United Kingdom where she obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Management. Later, she completed her MBA and held senior-level positions in Malaysian based MNC. She left the corporate world to be with her young kids. She is passionate about issues concerning Muslim women, Startups and Muslim businesses in general.