Southwest 737 encounters some turbulence on final approach into Las Vegas

One passenger reportedly said this was the worst landing she had ever experienced. It did look like a bit of a roller coaster ride. Judge for yourself.
Captured at Harry Reid International Airport on August 18, 2022.
NOTE: "Some turbulence on approach" (not at landing) accurately describes this video. The picture shows where the turbulence occurred. If you want something more dramatic, watch this video instead: • Delta 737 takes a BIG ...

[@jgbonney]

To most passengers light chop seems like extreme turbulence. And they tend to have a real gift for exaggeration. That was just another summer day in Vegas.

[@sawyerhja]

Ex-actly.

[@maverickhenderson4902]

Looked like a regular Vegas approach to me. Actually that was pretty mild for Vegas.

[@philplummer5516]

WTF? Standard approach and landing it would appear.

[@mr.yuk4858]

That's actually common in that area. I've noticed quite a bit of turbulence when flying into North Las Vegas Airport. The ground heats up creating thermals.

[@mattpolka8406]

Exactly.

[@zekeonstormpeak4186]

It’s called a thermal. Anyone who has ever flown into Vegas in the summer, has experienced this phenom. Denver is also notorious for this.

[@scotchsoda3165]

Sometime during the 90s, I was watching flights from the Sunset lot. The day had some rough weather, and a windshear warning was announced from the tower. A JANET flight was on final on 25L. That captain must have been a former carrier pilot, because he landed on the numbers! By the time he passed us at the Sunset lot, that 737-200 was going 45 mph.

[@mattpolka8406]

This didn’t seem to be anything other than a normal flight.

[@HappyLandingsVegas]

Sorry if you were expecting something wilder, but literally every word of the video description is true.

[@JAMESWUERTELE]

I have had a few flights like that in to Phoenix and where I live on the front range of CO. When I was younger, my grip had to be pried off the arm rests.

[@rixxroxxk1620]

It appears to be a thermal updraft.

[@wnmech6495]

Looked like normal landing to me

[@Sora_Digital]

Every flight I've done to Vegas is bumpy, with the heat and the mountains it's expected. I remember leaving LV back in 2003 when a storm was approaching, that was the worst take off and accent !

[@frankgrimesification]

What type of accent was it? A New Yawk accent?

[@Cassie4486]

This always happens when you cross over the mountains there.

[@armyavi8tor]

This is normal out here. Terrain, winds and heat coming from the ground.

[@TheSithTeacher]

Glad to see the high traffic’s back.

[@billydebianchi]

Lol my aunt was on this flight. She said this was the worst approach and landing she ever experienced and that some lady was getting panic attacks and was getting sick I showed her this haha

[@HappyLandingsVegas]

If you made this comment on the live stream, then you're the reason we went back and made this clip. :)

[@billydebianchi]

@@HappyLandingsVegas haha I did!

[@57Jimmy]

Lol, take your aunt to Maderia Airport! Now THATS turbulence!😂

[@billydebianchi]

@@57Jimmy haha right. Well this was the last stage of the flight. This was one of the days where the monsoon was coming in so she said the plane was rocking the entire way down. The worst turbulence I've experienced was on a JetBlue flight from jfk to San Diego in October of 2007 with record Santa Ana winds and all those fires. That was nuts. It was actually one of the best flights I've had up until the last twenty minutes. I remember the captain saying it was severe turbulence. I couldn't wait to get on the ground. We finally got on the ground and what happened? Another plane was in our gate having technical issues and we had to wait an hour lol go figure!

[@jpmurphy6901]

Probably a walk in the park for pilots compared to a wind shear.

[@smartycummins2500]

Seems like a cool controller

[@soflaav8r]

Um, what? That looked like a non-event.

[@lindapawson3445]

It looks scary! I am flying into Las Vegas in October. I hope it will be smooth landing✈️. You never know.

[@omagame1433]

Thank you so much yappy👵👄👊

[@danielapemcova345]

Great job captain

[@elainecanzonieri1311]

Never experienced it on early morning flights. Just afternoon flights

[@rblxgaming896]

looks pretty normal to me idk what ur talkng about

[@catherinebreitfeller669]

Sure looked perfect to me but I’m not a pilot.

[@frankgrimesification]

I'm not a pilot but I play one on tv.

[@yourworstnightmareiscathoc7015]

OMG that was Extremely Severe, Have you checked to see if everyone's ok?

[@kotaro806]

Que lindo!

[@Neh856]

Bruh

[@gemmusa4663]

✈💕✈💕

[@terioswalt1909]

Normal landing!

[@HappyLandingsVegas]

The actual landing was normal, but the sudden nose down just before the cut to the closeup would have been unsettling to most passengers.

[@bonbondesel]

I see both dramatic...

[@josephocampo5425]

Wind