Video shows plane abort LAX landing at last second as heavy winds battered the city

Wild video captured a 737 abort a landing at Los Angeles International Airport as heavy winds tossed the plane back and forth amid the massive rain storm.

Passengers aboard a Southwest plane bound for LA from St. Louis got a wild ride Tuesday night as they approached LAX as heavy winds from the winter storm battered the aircraft.

Video online showed the plane with landing gear ready as it attempted to come down before the wind picked up, causing the craft to pull back up. The pilot was then forced to make another go-around.

Hold on tight! 🌬️ Gusty winds made for a rough night of flying at Los Angeles International Airport, with several go-arounds late Tuesday into Wednesday morning. Caught live on Airline Videos Live in Los Angeles — Feb 17, 2026. pic.twitter.com/bKHj0aUbiJ

— AIRLINE VIDEOS (@airlinevideos) February 18, 2026

The live camera footage came from The H Hotel Los Angeles, which is located adjacent to LAX.

Eventually, the plane was able to land safely.

One person who commented under the video said they were on a plane coming in from Hawaii and said the turbulence coming into LAX was nothing like they’d ever experienced.

“I was on Hawaiian Airlines coming back from HNL,” the person on X wrote. “It was the worst turbulence I’ve ever experienced and it lasted three hours until we finally landed.”

The commenter added, “Passengers were vomiting and screaming. Luckily we landed on the first try.”

Another person on X documented their experience landing, calling it the  “worst landing of their life.” It is unclear if they were on the Southwest flight, as they do not specify the airline they were on.

“It was a bad storm. Not ‘grab an umbrella’ bad. It was ‘Noah, start building the ark again’ bad. An umbrella would just break,” the post read.

---

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters

The person added, “We land. Worst landing of my life. The kind where you start mentally reviewing your will. Flipping felt like a genuine possibility. I’m pretty sure the plane touched down on pure chaos and vibes.”

The California Post reached out to the FAA to find out how many other planes had to be diverted and were unable to land and forced to make go-arounds, due to the storm. 

The FAA told us that when it’s inclement weather, like on Tuesday night, it’s up to the pilot about how many go-arounds they feel are necessary to make in order to safely land the plane. 

“A go-around is a safe, routine maneuver performed at the discretion of a pilot or at the request of an air traffic controller,” the FAA said.

The agency also said it did not have any data on how many planes were diverted or made go-arounds at LAX on Tuesday. LAX did not immediately respond to similar requests at time of publication.