00:00Looking out an airplane window
00:01and seeing the runway approach
00:03at a 45-degree sideways angle
00:06looks like an inevitable crash.
00:08But to commercial airline pilots,
00:10this is the CRAB method,
00:12the ultimate test of heavy aviation control.
00:15In 40-knot gale crosswinds,
00:18pointing the fuselage straight
00:19would push the aircraft completely off the tarmac.
00:23Pilots intentionally drift sideways into the wind
00:26to hold the runway vector,
00:28waiting until the main landing gear touches down
00:31before kicking the rudder pedals
00:33to snap hundreds of tons of metal onto the centerline.
00:37Nerves of steel at 150 miles per hour.
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