Plane spotter captures windy Wellington landing

Plane spotter Tim Gorman captured the moment Air NZ Flight NZ 449 had to abort a landing at Wellington Airport. Video / Tim Gorman

A dedicated plane spotter has caught the moment an Air New Zealand plane came close, but no cigar to landing at Wellington Airport on Monday.

Tim Gorman shot two videos of NZ449's descent into the capital city after the pilot was forced to abort the landing twice due to windy weather.

The first of two recordings shows the plane virtually touching the runway before it lurches up again and performs a standard "go-around" procedure.

Gorman told Fairfax that the landing was the closest-to-tarmac pull-up he had seen in 20 years of watching planes at Wellington.

The second recording isn't quite as nail biting, with the plane remaining a fair distance in the air on its second loop through the windy skies.

The flight eventually made a successful landing on its third attempt, 20 minutes behind schedule at 7.21pm on Monday evening.

An Air NZ spokesman told Fairfax the aborted landings were due to the wind changing direction and the flight was never in danger.

The pilot was said to have followed standard operating procedure.

A MetService spokesman said the strongest gust recorded at Wellington Airport on Monday was 44km/h, not quite as strong as the winds over the weekend.