This video of an AirAsia flight landing at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport has been making the rounds. It's one of those clips that instantly made my palms sweat with anxiety. The aircraft comes in low over the runway while being tossed around by powerful gusts of wind, looking almost like it's landing at a sideways angle.
What you're seeing, though, is a perfectly normal and surprisingly safe crosswind landing. Pilots use what's known as a "crab" technique to accomplish this. They point the nose of the aircraft into the wind so it doesn't get pushed off course. Just before touchdown, they straighten things out so the landing gear meets the runway straight on.
As bizarre as it looks, this is standard protocol for a high-wind landing. Modern planes are built to handle serious winds, and pilots are taught to go around if things ever get outside safe limits. So while the clip feels like watching a near-accident, it's just a routine landing during high winds.
Previously:
