Any unexpected maneuvering on landing can be kinda disturbing.
The last time I landed in Toronto the wind was from the north, which is unusual. It meant the plane took a leg out over Lake Ontario and the approach was right over the city. It looked for a while like we were going to fly straight into the CN Tower, which we passed at a distance of what felt like 100 m, right at the level of the main deck. I'm not usually freaked out in the air, but flying that close to a building while still a good 10 km from the airport was kinda disturbing.
The thing to remember is that planes always take off and land as close to dead-on into the wind as possible, for a variety of reasons. It keeps ground-speed lower, and wind tends to gust more frequently than lull, so you want a headwind if possible. A gust in a headwind creates lift rather than what is sometimes known as "controlled flight into ground".
If you know the wind direction at the airport and the runway layout you should be able to guess within 90 degrees the landing direction. Cross-wind landings (lots of wing-waggle on final) aren't uncommon. Tail-wind landings are very rare.
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Date: 2011-01-03 06:34 pm (UTC)The last time I landed in Toronto the wind was from the north, which is unusual. It meant the plane took a leg out over Lake Ontario and the approach was right over the city. It looked for a while like we were going to fly straight into the CN Tower, which we passed at a distance of what felt like 100 m, right at the level of the main deck. I'm not usually freaked out in the air, but flying that close to a building while still a good 10 km from the airport was kinda disturbing.
The thing to remember is that planes always take off and land as close to dead-on into the wind as possible, for a variety of reasons. It keeps ground-speed lower, and wind tends to gust more frequently than lull, so you want a headwind if possible. A gust in a headwind creates lift rather than what is sometimes known as "controlled flight into ground".
If you know the wind direction at the airport and the runway layout you should be able to guess within 90 degrees the landing direction. Cross-wind landings (lots of wing-waggle on final) aren't uncommon. Tail-wind landings are very rare.