midendian, 3 months ago

#SFO was running on a single runway for most of the day. Wind pushed both departures and arrivals to RWY 10 (already a rare condition) but 10R is closed for repairs. Luckily once the worst of the wind started mid-afternoon, the direction had changed enough to move to 19L/R—with an obvious relief in the voices of the controllers.

But still a fun afternoon hanging out with the resident seagull population of the Tanforan Target parking lot. #planespotting #avgeek

Air France 777 arriving SFO RWY 10L in bouncy stormy conditions
British Airways A380 arriving KSFO RWY 10L in very windy conditions
Six seagulls (one brown) standing in pairs in a parking lot with a green hill in the background reading SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO / THE INDUSTRIAL CITY in white letters

midendian, 3 months ago

Not usually much for video but it’s difficult to convey how dynamic wind shear is with stills. #SFO #planespotting #avgeek

SkyWest ERJ in AA colors bobbing around in the wind above the Tanforan Target store. They decide to go around quite early in the clip but the bouncing would have still be very unpleasant in the cabin.

mattblaze, 3 months ago

@midendian Hard to tell from the camera angle - was that a go-around?

midendian, 3 months ago

@mattblaze yeah you can see an increase in the exhaust when they decide this is not a good idea.

mattblaze, 3 months ago

@midendian Whew!