Dramatic footage has just emerged of a Boeing 737 being blown away from an airbridge at Wellington airport while passengers were disembarking.
The incident happened in June but the images have just surfaced on YouTube, showing ground staff scrambling for safety as the 40 tonne aircraft is pushed away from the airbridge - leaving a large gap between the aircraft and the airbridge with a three-metre drop to the ground.
No one was hurt but industry experts are hoping airlines will learn from the incident.
"Clearly a gust of wind has caught the tail... and it would have been fairly scary for the people on the ground as you saw from the video," Irene King from the Aviation Industry Association says.
The Pacific Blue plane had just landed in Wellington on a flight from Auckland with 180 people on board on June 17.
MetService weather ambassador Bob McDavitt says it was a southerly.
"It wasn't really a gale force southerly, but it was pretty strong. And peak gusts we measured were about 78 kilometres per hour," he says.
The drama took place as passengers started to disembark and King says the problem is widely known globally with 737-800s because "they're very light at the back when passengers come forward".
Pacific Blue says the plane was braked following usual procedure.
The company said in a statement that following their investigation all 737-800s must now be braked and have the main, rear wheels chocked or secured when winds exceed about 60 kilometres an hour.
The Civil Aviation Authority is no longer investigating the incident and says it is happy with Pacific Blue's report.
The Hamilton pilot who put the dramatic pictures on the picture-sharing website would not disclose where he got the security camera footage and did not want to talk to the media.
To watch the full video of the Boeing 737-800 Gate 22 mishap, click here
