Airplanes, Video

Cockpit footage shows pilot taking over from autopilot to land Airbus A319 on snowy runway

  • A pilot shared a video of him taking over from autopilot
  • It was an Airbus A319, and he encountered a crosswind
  • It’s a great watch, and you can see for yourself below

Published on Aug 19, 2024 at 4:57 PM (UTC+4)
by Siddharth Dudeja

Last updated on Aug 20, 2024 at 5:08 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by Tom Wood

Watching a pilot fly an aircraft as special as the Airbus A319 is a mesmerizing experience in itself, but things can get really intense inside the cockpit at any point in time.

One such example was shown in footage shared by a pilot, and it was breathtaking to say the least.

It showed them taking over from autopilot on an Airbus A319 right before landing because of harsh weather.

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Pilot takes over Airbus A319 autopilot

airbus a319 cockpit landing crosswind
Laurent ERRERA/Wikimedia Commons

The video was shot and posted on YouTube by Gregory Kovalev, an Airbus airline pilot.

Kovalev often records himself while inside the cockpit, and this was one of those times.

He’s also called ‘Captain Butter’ by his viewers, but we’ll discuss that in a while.

Anyhow, his A319 was headed to Yekaterinburg Koltsovo International Airport and was on autopilot.

A few minutes before landing, he noticed an unusual gust of winds — and it was a crosswind.

Further, he immediately took over from the Airbus A319 autopilot to land the aircraft manually using the ILS approach.

Cockpit view of landing during crosswind

airbus a319 cockpit landing crosswind
Aleskandr Markin/Wikimedia Commons
airbus a319 cockpit landing crosswind
Mathieu Marquer/Wikimedia Commons

Although it’s not the first time we’ve seen a pilot’s POV of landing an airplane during a crosswind, this landing was well worth it.

As complex and intimidating as a cockpit may be, disengaging the autopilot is a fairly easy task.

It only requires the pilot to press a few buttons to take back manual control.

Moreover, ILS landing — or Instrument Landing System — is a precision runway approach that lets pilots land an aircraft with ease during harsh weather conditions.

In addition, the landing was quite smooth despite the snowy runway and gusty winds.

You could say it was as smooth as butter, which leads us to why the pilot has the Captain Butter nickname.

If you’re interested, make sure to also watch him landing an Airbus A321 incredibly smoothly.

Watching cockpit videos is an exceptional experience — regardless of whether you’re an aviation enthusiast or not.

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Siddharth is a tech nerd with a secret love of all things cars. He has been writing for a few years now, and on his free time you would find him gaming when he's not procrastinating.