Here's What An Intense Crosswind Can Do To A Boeing 777 Trying To Land

The crew of an Emirates Boeing 777 had to divert to London's Gatwick airport after they tried twice to land in a heavy crosswind at the flight's destination, Birmingham.

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association calls the crosswind landing "one of the trickiest skills to learn in flying." A video of the 777-300ER's first attempted landing, posted to YouTube by David Goodship, showed how severely the plane was being turned, but has since been taken down.

We grabbed a screenshot of the 777 just before it aborted the landing and pulled up. You can see how off it is from the center of the runway - the correct procedure is to touch one set of tires down before the other, in a "slightly skewed alignment," airline pilot Patrick Smith writes in his book "Cockpit Confidential."

The flight path of Emirates Flight 039, from FlightAware.com, shows the two aborted landings and the diversion to London:

And Birmingham Airport confirmed the flight gave up landing: