Millions Tune in to Watch Pilots Land in London as Storm Eunice Rages Across Eur

Back in the late 1980s, there was a tremendous windstorm in Maryland. I stood at a window of my workplace in Maryland, and watched bricks blow off the cornice and fall seven stories into the parking lot. (Co-workers who drove to work were quite unhappy watching.) In Silver Spring, a partially completed cinder-block building blew over into the street.

My wife knew a woman who had flown into Baltimore-Washington International that day. The pilot made the sensible decision to push the throttles all the way forward and get onto the runway as quickly as he could. The woman could hardly walk off the airplane. Her son, then about ten, thanked the pilot, saying that it was the coolest flight he'd ever been on.

This brings back memories for me when I was travelling from Schiphol to Edinburg. It was very early morning winter and snowing heavily. There was a storm outside. About 10-15 mins before landing, the plane was hit by a lightning bolt! The plane shook, the lights dimmed, the oxygen masks were released and all the flight attendants rushed to their seats. It was like being in a Hollywood movie, except for real. After a minute or so things stabilised, you could see the relief of faces of all crew members. While walking out of the plane at Edinburgh, I heard one of the pilots ask the flight members "Did you see that? We were lucky!". The lightning had hit one of the wings of the plane and it was snowing heavily so it was even more difficult for the pilots to control the plane.

One of the better clips:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rOIrbKZKzFo

My last flight home from the Marines was like that. They said to expect heavy winds on approach so I began to drink heavily. The flight was only half an hour long. It was fun.