Um, planes aren't supposed to land like this. Newly captured video shows passenger planes setting down practically sideways at a wind-whipped Portugal airport.
Dozens of planes had to deal with powerful gusts Sunday at Funchal Airport, a small airport on the island of Madeira. The crosswinds can be heard thrashing on the video. A tense moment comes at the :50 second mark when a plane aborts a landing just a few feet off the ground.
Funchal has a reputation for being one of the world's most dangerous airports. Its runway is unusually short because of its tight location, and there are rocky cliffs on one side and steep plunge into the ocean on the other. Oh, and then there are the winds.
It's also been the site of tragedies, including a 1977 accident when a TAP Portugal Boeing 727 smashed into the runwaym killing 131 of the 164 people on board. The runway has since been extended another 655 feet. As the video shows, however, Funchal is still a major challenge for even the most experienced pilots.
Source: RT
