This is why pilots fly

Here is science, technology and human skills all coming together in a truly amazing landing at Queenstown Airport, New Zealand. Down through rugged mountains into cloud-filled twisting valleys the pilot breaks out the bottom of the clouds to make a perfect landing.

This post has received a huge number of comments from pilots round the world, including:

“Moments of grace…”

“Real life has great graphics”

“Sometimes what a pilot sees in a day, people won’t see in their lifetimes.”

“The best office view in the world”

“When I saw the first bankings early in the video, I thought, OK, s/he’s on approach… Then the mountains kept coming closer and clOser and CLOSER… and s/he was diving INTO CLOUDS near BIG MOUNTAINS, and I thought, oh boy, this is not going to end well…”

A couple of people have suggested this is a simulation, but based on the overwhelming response from pilots I am inclined to accept it on face value.

You can check out all the comments on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mxmFCw-Dig

The video below is hi-def 1280×720 so make sure you hit the full-screen button after clicking play.