On Monday, around 10 PM, Aurimas and his friends noticed a low-flying plane due to its unusual route – passenger planes usually do not fly in these areas of Vilnius.
“It seemed to circle the TV tower, flew past us in Žvėrynas, and then flew over the Old Town,” Aurimas recounted.
Other Vilnius residents also noticed this LOT airline plane and began discussing it on social media.
“I wonder what the real reason for such a maneuver is. It’s the first time in my life I’ve seen a commercial plane descending on such a trajectory, flying so low over the Cathedral,” wrote one internet user in the “Lithuanian Aviation” Facebook group.
“Unexpectedly, it flew very low over the house. First time I’ve seen it fly this way,” another echoed.
Reason explained
Representatives of the company “Oro navigacija,” who commented on the unusual approach of the LOT airline aircraft to Vilnius Airport, stated in a comment provided to 15min that it was a visual approach for landing, coordinated between the aircraft crew and air traffic controller, initiated by the aircraft crew.
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A visual approach for landing is a landing method permitted by air traffic control, where pilots, seeing the airport, choose a more direct path towards the airport runway, instead of flying the established standard route, which is usually longer.
“We want to emphasize that due to the circumstances, this was not a usual approach route, but an isolated and rarely recurring case,” added “Oro navigacija.”
LOT airline representatives informed 15min that such a decision was made due to weather conditions.
“On July 20, the landing maneuver of flight LO779 from Warsaw to Vilnius followed the specified trajectory, which was chosen for operational reasons related to the prevailing weather conditions in the vicinity of Vilnius,” stated the laconic response.
However, Aurimas emphasized that on Monday evening, the weather conditions were good, and the sky was clear.
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