German pilots were today praised for averting a crash after gusting wind caused the tip of the aircraft's wing to graze the runway.

The near miss at Hamburg airport, caught on camera by plane-spotters, happened on Saturday afternoon as the Airbus A320 approached the city's Fuhlsbuettel airport on a flight from Munich.

The footage shows the Lufthansa aircraft buffeted by crosswinds and teeming rain as it descended towards the asphalt runway in a storm. It can be seen swerving sharply before scraping the ground with its left wing tip and quickly taking off again.

The German airline hailed the pilots for averting disaster with the so-called go around manoeuvre, after which the plane landed successfully.

Wolfgang Weber, a spokesman for Lufthansa, said the plane was hit by a m155mph gust of wind as it tried to land. Praising the pilots for an “absolutely professional manoeuvre", he said: “It was a dicey situation. People were quite shaken.”

Hansi Kuepper, one of 131 passengers on board, said the cabin was silent for several minutes after the incident. “It is hard to describe - it went very quickly,” he told n-tv television.

None of those onboard were injured, while the plane returned to service on Sunday after repairs, Lufthansa said.

The incident is being investigated by Germany’s Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Investigation, which is examining why the runway was in use during such strong winds.

Flights across the country were cancelled, diverted or delayed over the weekend as gale force winds wreaked havoc in central Europe, killing several people and causing power cuts.

Axel Raab, a spokesman for Deutsche Flugsicherung, which runs German air traffic control operations, said he believed neither the tower nor the pilot were at fault.

Commending the pilot for "very professional" handling of the situation, he said: “I don’t want to anticipate the results of the investigation, but at first sight no one has anything to answer for,” he said.

Mr Raab said it was simply an “unfortunate circumstance" that the plane had been hit by such a strong gust of wind.

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