And I have seen some of those videos, most of which I watch with disgust. As an airline pilot for a major US carrier, I was also an ALPA-trained (Air Line Pilots Association - AFL/CIO) airline accident invedtigator. I know all too well the results of exeeding the stated operating envelope of an aircraft, be it a Piper J-3 Cub or a Boeing 747.
But back to the issue at hand: crosswind limitations. It is very possible that the tower controllers relayed specious wind info. The wind speed and direction at the tower location is not necessarily the same as what the pilot might encounter at, say, an altitude of 200 feet just off the end of the runway. However, other wind instrument readings - wind speed and direction - are usually available to the controllers (center-field wind, runway approach-end wind, runway departure-end wind, etc). Two things here: 1. today's jetliners have all sorts of real-time wind info displayed on the instrument panel, plus a windsheer warning system that also generates an aural warning ("WINDSHEER! WINDSHEER! WINDSHEER!" ); and 2. If you are at 200 feet altitude (ILS CAT1 minimumus, generally speaking), and you are at a crab angle (crosswind correction angle) that puts you looking at the runway out the co-pilots side (starboard side) window, it is time to execute a go-around for a whole lot of reasons: A. if the wind is the same at ground level, then a safe landing is most likely not possible (that was NOT a safe landing in the video). B. if the wind direction/speed is considerably different at ground level (say 30 knots and 30° different, and that happens), then a dangerous sheer condition probably exists.
To relate all of this to my experiences, I'll abstract a particular landing I made, on a windy day at DCA (Washington National Airport). It was a day that the wind was increasing all morning, as forecast. I was landing a Boeing 737-400 to the north - 360° - and the tower reported the winds as 270° at 29 knots. That's a direct crosswind. The Boeing 737 (all series) has a 30-knot crosswind limitation, which was the case of all swept wing jets that I have flown (IIRC). At 200 feet the IRS display showed the wind at 290° and 35 knots. OK, probably a little sheer, but not dangerous sheer. Just bumpy ride sheer. At 200 feet, with that crosswind (290/35 on the airplane and 270/29 tower-reported), my wind correction angle was nothing like that jet on the video. HAD IT BEEN, I WOULD HAVE EXECUTED A GO-AROUND!.
At 200 feet my co-pilot keyed the mike, as most crews do on windy days, and transmitted two words, "Wind check." The DCA tower answered, "260 at 30." Within limits. But much more important, the situation felt safe to me. There is no way in the world that the pilot in the video "felt safe" during the low part of the approach or the "landing." I used standard crosswind landing techniques and made a rather nice landing considering (it had been a bumpy ride all the way from Boston, and really bumpy on the approach, but all is forgiven with a good landing. Many nice comments as the passengers passed the cockpit getting off at the gate).
As I cleared the runway at DCA, a Delta MD-80 on final called,"Wind check." The tower answered, "270 at 39 gusting 45." Delta, "OK. We are on the go-around. We need clearance to our alternate." The airport was closed.
Here is an interesting aside to this landing anecdote. We were scheduled to fly the same 737 back to Boston, but nothing was flying. The winds were getting upwards of 45 knots. As the co-pilot and I walked through the crowded terminal, headed to the frozen yogurt stand and then on to the crew room (we were DCA based), a man approached us rather briskly. He looked familiar. It was Ralph Nader (this was several years before his run for president, a run that caused Al Gore to lose the 2000 the election). Nader came up, breathlessly, and greeted us with, "Hey guys! How is it up there?"
It was probably my fastest retort ever. In retrospect I'm amazed at my quick wit in that situation. I answered, "Mr. Nader! Hello! It is unsafe at any speed." (I dunno. You might be too young to get it. But Ralph Nader's watershed book of 1965, a book primarily known for its critique of the Chevy Corvair .. but more an exposé of the automotive manufacturing industries' malfeasances .. was titled Unsafe at Any Speed.)
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and his seminal book. He was a good guy (but too bad he pooched Al Gore's election chances in the 2000). I sometimes wonder where we all would be now if Gore had won.
