In Storm Ciaran, pilots must do these five things to avoid disaster

Above the clouds, all seems well – it’s blue skies, sunshine, smooth-flying. Storms? Nah, we’ve dodged them. But as the plane descends, the windows darken and the panic rises: even for the most frequent flyer, the lurch of high winds, turbulence and lashing rain is stomach-churning stuff. So spare a thought for those landing into Storm Ciaran, whose 70–90mph squalls are set to whip Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and co in the coming days.

Jersey and Guernsey airports have already announced they will close to all flights on Thursday, while Gatwick Express is warning of delays and Ryanair has advised passengers to “check their Ryanair app for flight updates before travelling to the airport”.

But while passengers squirm, what of the captain and first officer at the helm of the aircraft? What are the processes they must follow in order to keep us safe – and do they ever go green around the gills too? From fuel-burn calculations to the “adrenaline” of missed landings, here’s what’s unfolding in the cockpit...

1. When landing, aim ‘into the wind’

First things first. Wonky “sideways” landings like those seen this week shouldn’t alarm anyone. In fact, pilots are trained to perform exactly this manoeuvre in the event of strong crosswinds.

Patrick Smith, a US pilot and author of Cockpit Confidential explains that the correct landing technique is “a slightly skewed alignment, with one set of tyres hitting the ground before the other”.

British Airways Senior First Officer Mark Vanhoenacker agrees: “When a plane is landing in a crosswind, pilots will commonly aim the plane into the wind, a manoeuvre that will ensure that the aeroplane’s path over the ground takes it directly to the runway,” he says. “This technique is effective but challenging.”

Which is why it takes a bit of practice. BA trains its pilots to land in high winds every six months. Captain Dave Thomas, head of flight technical and training at the airline, says that the difficulty of landing in high winds depends on both wind speed and direction.

In an ideal world, the pilot wants to land into the wind and in the centre of the runway. If there’s a tricky cross wind, he adds, they will approach with the nose of the plane facing the wind. Just as the pilot performs the “flare” – designed to slow the descent rate – he or she will bring the plane’s nose in line with the runway.

If this manoeuvre is performed too early, “the aeroplane won’t land in the centre of the runway – or on the runway at all,” says Thomas. If the pilot isn’t happy with their first effort, he or she will abort the landing and try again. In what is known as a “baulked landing”, the plane might even touch the runway first.

In the windiest conditions, “wingstrike” may occur – when, you’ve guessed it, a wing hits the runway when landing. It doesn’t happen often, although one notable incident took place in 2008, when a Lufthansa A320 tried to land at Hamburg Airport amid gusts of up to 47 knots (54mph). The footage on YouTube is excruciating, but no one was hurt and the plane eventually touched down on another runway.

2. Watch out for ‘wind shear’

The phenomenon known as “wind shear” also poses a risk. This is a sudden change in wind speed and/or direction, causing turbulence or a rapid increase or decrease in velocity. A tricky scenario might see a pilot attempting to land into a headwind that suddenly turns into a tailwind. The result? Landing late and fast, and potentially overshooting the runway, say our experts.

According to Airbus, wind shear is the main cause of 4 per cent of “approach and landing” accidents: a small fraction, but enough to warrant avoiding action. Captain Thomas says that wind shear may cause a pilot to call off a landing as the aircraft approaches the runway: “It’s the right thing to do – put the power on and get up and out of there.”

3. If you can’t land, go around – and try again

If they aren’t happy with the landing conditions, pilots will opt to “go around” – essentially abandon the descent, ascend again, and have another try.

“In storms this could be down to turbulence, windshear or fluctuating wind conditions, reduced visibility in rain showers, or [if] the pilot is just unhappy with the position of the aircraft on the runway,” says a training captain flying the Boeing 787 for a major UK airline, who has 27 years of experience.

“The decision is made by one of the operating pilots at the controls, as they are the only ones in the position to assess the aircraft’s safety. The safety of our passengers and the aircraft is always our top priority.

The decision happens very quickly, cautions our anonymous pilot. “There is unlikely to be any warning for the passengers. When the decision is made, a call of ‘Go-around’ is made by one of the pilots. The pilot flying the aircraft pushes one of the ‘TO/GA’ (TakeOff / Go-Around) switches mounted behind the thrust levers. This generates a large and rapid thrust increase, pitching the nose of the aircraft up in most cases, and also generates “fly up” guidance on the primary flight display to assist the pilot in flying away from the ground.

“The passengers feel the aircraft pitching up rapidly and will be pushed back into their seats as the aircraft rapidly accelerates away from the ground. A go-around can happen after touchdown, or the aircraft may touch down during the go-around manoeuvre. In these cases it is always safer to continue the go-around than try to land in unsafe conditions.”

The pilots then follow air traffic control instructions to sequence them into the approaching aircraft streams for another landing attempt if appropriate, or divert to another airfield with better conditions. “The minutes immediately after a go-around are always busy as the crew assess weather, fuel remaining, talk to air traffic control – so there may be a few minutes’ gap before they can talk to the passengers, so please don’t feel that we’re ignoring you.”

As passengers grip their seats, what’s the mood in the cockpit? “Flying a go-around always generates a physiological response in that you get a surge of adrenaline, but the manoeuvre is practised by every commercial pilot literally hundreds of times in the simulator, and is checked by an examiner every six months,” says our training captain. “Although it is quite an exciting manoeuvre to fly – [and] relatively rare – the crews are highly trained to remain calm throughout.”

Do they ever get motion-sick? “I don’t think I ever recall seeing a motion-sick pilot in the flight deck. We are usually concentrating too hard to have time to worry about things like that!”

4. Allow for a longer flight time

“Flying into a strong headwind can take a lot longer flight time, [so] you have to calculate fuel burn,” says commercial helicopter pilot Neil Conley, a director at leading air lift consultancy Skytrail. “Normally, when you are training, you won’t go flying if there is wind stronger than 25 knots – but I did my Commercial licence exam in 40+knots. It was a horrible experience.”

As you might expect, controlling a helicopter in inclement weather presents its own challenges – and sometimes simply isn’t possible. “In high winds, trying to turn the helicopter whilst hovering can be very dangerous,” says Conley. “As helicopters are normally not subject to runways, it’s all about the landing area. A lot more planning goes into take-off and landing when it’s windy.

“As with planes, helicopters want and need to take off and land into wind. If it’s very windy, taking off/landing downwind takes up a lot of power and sometimes isn’t possible. During flight it’s not as dangerous, however [it] still takes a lot more planning.”

5. Embrace ‘plan B’ – and use the weather to your advantage

“Even the most seasoned pilots sometimes have to admit defeat and divert if the conditions are just too bad,” says Jerry Dyer, founder of Big Jet TV, a YouTube channel which live-streams runway action at Britain’s major airports – often a nail-biting watch during storms. “These jets are filled with enough fuel to allow for all contingencies like diversions. It’s sometimes petrifying for the passenger, but up-front it’s all calm and under control.”

Airlines always have a plan B if the intended approach is not safe, or if the airport closes because of high winds. For example, flights intending to land at a London airport may be diverted to a British airport further north, or to one in western Europe.

And if you’re lucky, high winds might even mean your holiday starts sooner. Strong tailwinds – and jet streams – can shave hours off a flight time. A BA flight nearly went supersonic in 2015 thanks to just that – flying from New York to London in just five hours and 16 minutes when the usual journey time is nearly seven hours.

Similarly, Qantas’ London to Perth service has, on occasion, slashed its journey times by utilising strong northern winter winds, cutting time in the air from 17 hours and 20 minutes to closer to 16.