A Kenya Airways pilot has soared to fame after millions of people were blown away by her expert landing at Heathrow Airport during Storm Eunice.
While winds of more than 80mph forced other pilots to abandon their descents, captain Ruth Karauri pulled off a textbook cross-landing and brought her Boeing 787 Dreamliner down safely – with barely a wobble.
The manoeuvre was filmed on YouTube planespotting channel Big Jet TV, which drew nearly 7 million viewers with a live-stream of aircraft struggling to touch down at Heathrow in the storm.
Ms Karauri’s feat has since taken off on social media, made headlines across the world, and drawn praise back home in Kenya.
The governor of Kenya’s central bank Patrick Njoroge tweeted: “You’ve seen the videos of planes struggling to land at LHR yesterday with #StormEunice. The exception was KQ’s Capt Ruth Karauri who landed the 787 like a boss.”
Before making a return flight to Nairobi, Ms Karauri recorded a short video from the cockpit explaining how she managed to land flight KQ 100.
She said: “The flight conditions were strong gusting winds and it was quite a bumpy ride.
“However, thanks to the training we have had at Kenya Airways, particularly in the simulator, it prepared us for such a scenario.
Ms Karauri aspired to be a pilot from the age of eight, according to the Who Knows Kenya website, but had to wait until her twenties before she joined a Kenyan Airways sponsored training scheme.
Meanwhile, the creator of Big Jet TV has also been enjoying a boost in popularity following Storm Eunice.
Standing on top of a transit van with a camera trained on Heathrow’s runways, Jerry Dyer provided electrifying commentary in the high winds.
He described the tense landings during the storm as “the most exciting stuff you could possibly get”.
