{"id":574907,"date":"2026-08-20T14:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T14:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/574907\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T14:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T14:14:09","slug":"like-a-seagull-in-a-stiff-breeze-what-its-like-flying-into-wellington-the-worlds-windiest-city-new-zealand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/574907\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Like a seagull in a stiff breeze\u2019: what it\u2019s like flying into Wellington, the world\u2019s windiest city | New Zealand"},"content":{"rendered":"

It had been a smooth late-July flight from Auckland, until the plane started its descent into Wellington<\/a>. Then the bumps and swaying began.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more we went down, the rockier it got,\u201d says Laura, a Wellington resident who wished to give her first name only. \u201cThere was one point where we must have got a horrible cross-wind and it felt like the plane was about to flip over. At that point, the entire flight screamed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI genuinely felt like I was about to die, which was pretty awful \u2026 and I had eaten a horrible burger before going on the plane \u2013 that all came back up.\u201d<\/p>\n

The plane lurched back up into the sky. The pilot announced the weather was set to worsen and the plane returned to Auckland.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe often call it a \u2018Welly welcome\u2019 when you get a bumpy landing, but this was a different level of scary, and obviously the pilots knew that because they didn\u2019t land and didn\u2019t try to do it again,\u201d Laura says.<\/p>\n

Anyone who has frequently flown into New Zealand\u2019s capital has a story to tell.<\/p>\n

Wellington is the world\u2019s windiest city, with an annual average wind speed of 29km\/h. The city sits on the Cook Strait, a passage between New Zealand\u2019s North and South Islands, making it prone to high winds that can compound around the airport, which is flanked by hills.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s \u201csuper\u201d El Ni\u00f1o, a label assigned when sea surface temperatures climb by at least 2C<\/a>, will be the strongest of the century, and that could intensify Wellington\u2019s winds, as the city heads into spring \u2013 the windiest season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were some El Ni\u00f1os in the past where it\u2019s ended up being very windy in Wellington \u2026 so we expect it to be windier and more westerly than normal,\u201d says Dr Richard Turner, a research meteorologist at Earth Sciences.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think those landings are probably going to be a little bit bumpy for the next few months.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018You think about your life a little bit as it comes down\u2019<\/p>\n

For many, the descent into Wellington can feel akin to sitting in a tiny boat as it\u2019s thrown around on an angry sea. It is not uncommon to hear passengers gasping, praying or vomiting. Occasionally the plane might be metres from touchdown before suddenly and rapidly ascending back into the sky to reattempt a landing. When wheels do eventually reach the tarmac, and come to a strained halt, the cabin often breaks out in applause.<\/p>\n

On particularly bad days, local TV crews will wait at the airport, ready to interview passengers who emerge from a plane looking haunted and pale. For more seasoned flyers, the notoriously bumpy ride is all part of the fun of flying into New Zealand\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n

A bumpy landing is sometimes called a \u2018Welly welcome\u2019. Photograph: Dave Lintott\/REX\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like a rollercoaster, it\u2019s a real adrenaline rush,\u201d says Kevin Eagles, a Wellingtonian who has carved out an online following by livestreaming Wellington airport\u2019s take-offs and landings.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s well-known you really swirl about, you think about your life a little bit as it comes down, and then you\u2019re slammed down on the tarmac and wait for the moment the reverse thrusters kick in and there is a big roar \u2013 you\u2019re just holding on really.\u201d<\/p>\n

His videos of the choppy flights attract the highest number of views.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know what it\u2019s like for those passengers in there to experience that and you feel empathy for them but at the same time it\u2019s incredibly thrilling,\u201d Eagles says.<\/p>\n

On social media, people frequently relay their experiences flying into Wellington after another bumpy video emerges.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was me on that plane years ago trying to land like a seagull in a stiff breeze. Hyperventilating into the sick bag, while you could have heard a pin drop,\u201d writes one commentator.<\/p>\n

\u201cBest pilots in the world. That bay landing is brutal,\u201d says another.<\/p>\n

An analysis by Earth Sciences New Zealand shows Wellington airport has a higher percentage of strong winds compared with other parts of the city, due to its exposed location on the South Coast. Strong gusts over 96km\/h are relatively frequent there, it said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere tends to be a funnelling effect through the strait,\u201d Turner says.<\/p>\n

Wellington can be windy year-round, but spring tends to bring low pressure systems that can intensify gusts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe storms in the southern ocean barrel along and in front of them are these fronts that have these very strong pressure gradients at those times of the year,\u201d Turner says.<\/p>\n

Spring tends to bring low pressure systems that can intensify gusts in Wellington. Photograph: Hollie Adams\/Reuters<\/p>\n

But experienced Air New Zealand pilot captain Jake Snelgrove assures passengers the bumps are always more pronounced towards the back of the plane, and pilots are highly trained to deal with Wellington\u2019s wind.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe only go in there when we know it\u2019s safe,\u201d Snelgrove says. \u201cYou go in there with a lot of respect for Wellington and what the weather can do \u2026 and tend to make early, proactive decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Snelgrove says no Wellington weather would ever be strong enough to compromise the structural integrity of the plane, and pilots have a warning system that alerts them to wind shear \u2013 a phenomenon when two different wind speeds are interacting and creating a turbulent environment.<\/p>\n

Where wind shear is present, pilots have a particular manoeuvre for the approach, or will conduct a go-around, to avoid landing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile it sometimes doesn\u2019t feel comfortable, it is still safe,\u201d he says, adding the pilots are usually having a more enjoyable day in windy situations than passengers because it is \u201cchallenging\u201d.<\/p>\n

Additionally, he says flights may be cancelled not because it is dangerous for the planes, but because airport staff are unable to move cargo or people if there is strong wind on the ground.<\/p>\n

On the days where Wellington\u2019s wind does settle, passengers are in for a remarkable journey, Eagles adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour anxiety is replaced by beautiful views,\u201d he says. \u201cYou fly over Wellington city and you see the stadium and the harbour sparkling, and you think, wow.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It had been a smooth late-July flight from Auckland, until the plane started its descent into Wellington. Then…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574908,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-574907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}