A north-east MP has praised the pilot of a plane that had to abort its landing amid stormy weather yesterday.
Aberdeen South MP Stephen Flynn said he was “extremely grateful” for the pilot’s skill in avoiding a serious situation upon arrival at Heathrow Airport.
High winds meant the plane was unable to safely land on its first attempt and footage shared online shows the tail end of the plane touching the ground sending smoke into the air.
Mr Flynn was one of the passengers onboard the flight which left Aberdeen at around 10.50am on Monday.
He said: “As we came into land it was obviously windy and when we hit the runway the plane did bounce and then tilt quite sharply to the left – from where I was sitting I actually thought that the tip of the wing was about to clatter into the ground.
“The next thing I know we were back up in the air rocking around in turbulence – it was a remarkable job from the pilot and I’m extremely grateful for his skill in averting an extremely serious situation.
“Looking back at the footage now I can see the back end of the plane does appear to connect with the ground and it’s clearly a bit of a close call.”
Landing captured on video
The failed landing was captured and shared online by Big Jet TV, who described the moment the plane hit the runways as a “tail strike”.
Trails of smoke can be seen as the plane touches the runway and rises again, before the “tail strike” sends paint dust into the air.
When the right wing lifts, the plane travels along the runway at an angle with just one set of wheels on the ground.
The pilot was able to safely land the plane during the second attempt.
Over the past few days, Storm Malik and Storm Corrie have brought gusts of more than 90mph in the north of Scotland.
The severe weather caused disruptions across the UK with fallen trees forcing roads to close and a number of public transport services were cancelled.
A spokesman from British Airways said: “Our pilots are highly trained to manage a range of scenarios, including extreme weather conditions, and our flight crew landed the aircraft safely. Our customers and crew all disembarked as normal.”