(March 3, 2008)--A Lufthansa Airlines flight carrying 131 passengers narrowly escaped disaster during a landing attempt in gale force winds over the weekend.
The flight from Munich was trying to land at Hamburg on Saturday when it got buffeted by strong crosswinds, sparked by the winter storm "Emma" that caused havoc across central Europe this weekend.
Amateur video showed the plane violently veering from side to side as it came in to land.
The video showed how, as the aircraft touched down, the gale force winds pushed the left wing against the runway before the pilot, who had been flying for the company for 17 years, pulled the plane back into the air.
The Airbus A320 landed safely on the second attempt.
An airline spokesman on Monday confirmed that the left wing had touched the ground, but said the damage was minimal and that the aircraft was already back in service.