‘Like a seagull in a stiff breeze’: what it’s like flying into Wellington, the world’s windiest city

Anyone who has frequently landed in New Zealand’s capital has a hair-raising story to tell, and this year’s ‘super’ El Niño could only intensify the winds It had been a smooth late-July flight from Auckland, until the plane started its descent into Wellington.

Then the bumps and swaying began.

“The more we went down, the rockier it got,” says Laura, a Wellington resident who wished to give her first name only.

“There 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.” Continue reading...