Video | An airplane encounters a dangerous natural phenomenon while landing at a Saudi airport

2024-07-10 2024-07-10T13:45:21Z

Weather of Arabia - A video clip was circulated on social media showing a dangerous attempt to land an Airadeal plane at Abha Airport in Saudi Arabia.

It appears that the plane collided with an air vortex as it approached the runway at an altitude of 50 feet, causing it to lose balance and having to perform a maneuver known as “rejected landing.” This air vortex, known as "Devil Dust", is one of the most dangerous phenomena that a pilot can encounter during landing, as it may cause the plane to become significantly unbalanced.

What is Asouf?

The former professor of climate at Qassim University, Dr. Abdullah Al-Misnad, explained that Ajaj Al-Jinn or Asouf Al-Jinn is a spiral wind whose diameter ranges from half a meter to 20 meters, and its length reaches 1000 meters. Al-Misnad said: “This storm often forms in deserts and heterogeneous areas, such as paved roads next to white lands or farms.” He added that this phenomenon is formed when the Earth's surface heats up significantly, creating a state of instability, as a wide, hot air bubble forms, its weight and density decrease, and it quickly rises to the top.

Al-Misnad added, “The center of the depression, or the center of the vortex, begins to rotate to mix and mix the air between the hot layers at the bottom and the cold layers at the top, which attracts moderate winds from all directions to hit the ground near the center of the vortex, then the rotation movement begins and stirs up dust to mix hot air with cold.” and alleviating instability.”

Al-Misnad continued, saying: “The higher the column extends, the faster the winds become, and the storm often forms between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. on very hot days. It appears clearly due to dust flying around it and can last from a few minutes to more than an hour.” The goal of this phenomenon is to mix and blend the lower heat with the upper heat to cool the Earth’s inflamed surface, as the rotation speed can reach 70 km/hour and perhaps higher, and it rotates counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere.

Al-Musnad confirmed that the attack of the jinn has nothing to do with the jinn, but some ancient cultures that were unable to explain this natural phenomenon attributed it to the jinn and devils, and from here came names such as Ajaj of the jinn, hurricane of the jinn, Muaysir, Asouf of the jinn, wedding of the jinn, and others, which differ. A little bit from one area to another. However, some peoples call it with the same English name "Dust Devil".