Mile for mile, flying is by far the safest way to travel. Then, you see something like a British Airways plane dealing with some heavy winds while coming in for a landing and suddenly taking the bus appears to be the best way to travel.
Dramatic footage out of Gibraltar, Spain appears to show a British Airways flight see-sawing back and forth while it was coming in for a landing. with some gusty winds off the coast of southern Europe on Monday.
Flight BA492 took off from London Heathrow airport at 8:25 a.m. and land in Gibraltar a few hours later. However, as you can see in the footage below, the airliner was forced to divert to another airport after encountered some gusty winds. The British Airways flight eventually touched down in the Malaga, Spain, just before 1 p.m. local time.
Video posted to Twitter by Richard Whalley, showed the plane dipping back and forth as it descends. He told CNN that he was in his office when he heard "loud engine noises" and decided to see where they were coming from.
“I work in the port, it’s closed due to the high winds so was just in my office. [I] heard loud engine noises so looked out and saw the plane doing funny maneuvers,” he told CNN.
Warning: Video contains strong language
No one on the flight was injured, a British Airways spokesperson said.
"Due to strong winds in the Gibraltar area, our pilots decided to land in Malaga as a precaution," the airline said in a statement. “At no point was there a risk to safety. The safety of our customers and crew is always our number one priority."
Passengers deplaned in Malaga and the company arranged ground transport for them to Gibraltar.
The Airbus A320 has a capacity of 100 - 240 passengers, depending on its seating configuration. It's known as a global short-to-medium range aircraft which is used by airlines all over the world.