"Negativity" aside, i think Two has a point: i often remember with no fondness at all the 2000 storm "Lothar", at the height of which we fought our A320 down into ZRH with winds of 65kts, gusting 80-90. Having made a successful landing amidst countless others having to do go-arounds, we did not feel like "heroes" at all:
- at 7 am, we had commented on, but not reacted to, a significant weather chart showing a low-level (FL230 if i recall), 150kts jetstream traversing Europe like straight as an arrow from the UK towards the Adriatic. Should have rung alarm bells, didn't...
- Forecast for ZRH were westerly winds 35, gusting 45... we made a note to take on more fuel for the Düsseldorf-ZRH sector to cover delays resulting from usage of rwy 28 and high winds... correct, but not exactly rocket science..
- After landing in Düsseldorf, meteo update: still the same SWC, newer TAF for ZRH and GVA and MUC with wind upwards of 50 kts... now THIS is where we should have reacted and asked ourselves seriously if taking to the air made sense. We did not, and just took 2 hours of additional fuel.
- The storm started hitting the Switzerland area about the time we were taking off from DUS. we had to do about 50 minutes of VERY turbulent holding in the SHA area north of ZRH, badly scaring 130 passengers, many of whom got sick. Diversion made little sense: GVA was Closed, MUC closing and pretty much everything else as far as Marseille was equally bad or worse than ZRH. After a very lively approach to rwy 28, we were lucky enough not to catch any gusts between 300ft and GND, so we set her down, and proceed to an outside stand (D) in ZRH.
- It is noteworthy that 5 flight coming into ZRH during that time ultimately had to declare emergency, for various reasons, and had a FAR worse time of it than we did.
- By then, the wind on the ground had peaks at 110 kts (!!), cargo containers were blowing over the tarmac, all ground personnel wisely instructed to stay the hell off the tarmac. So our poor passengers spent another hour onboard a puke-smelling airplane, scared and unhappy.
I do not know if i would today have the wisdom and foresight to stay on the ground in Düsseldorf, when everybody else is still flying. The point is that our environment is exceedingly mission-oriented, because a weather-abort almost never happens. Ultimately, the decision and the responsibility to operate the flight, or NOT, rests with us, and it is certainly worth a thought, even with hindsight, to ask if staying on the ground would not have been better that day.
That apart, kudos for a job well done to the crew...