Ukrainian are gigantic flying machines. Roughly analogous to America’s C-5 Galaxy, the Condor can weigh nearly 900,000 pounds when fully loaded, but that doesn’t mean they are immune to mother nature. This example, operated by Antonov Airlines, can be seen fighting a strong crosswind during landing with .

Big jets with large side-sail areas can really get pushed around by the wind. The Boeing designers that gave birth to the B-52 came up with unique and at the time highly secretive solution to this problem. . This way, pilots would not have “kick out” the crab during crosswind landings via executing heavy rudder and cross-control inputs.

The B-52H Stratofortress is a quarter of a million pound aluminum Cold War era pterodactyl, and its

The rest of the world’s big jets, like the An-124 above, have to straighten up on landing the old fashion way or they risk putting huge lateral stress loads on their landing gear. It’s a totally common but extreme-looking maneuver that is more of an art form than a science.

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