Moment planes forced to abort landings in huge Storm Agnes winds at UK airport
A number of passenger planes were forced to abort landings and perform go-arounds due to heavy winds caused by Storm Agnes this week.
Terrifying footage, filmed by AviationUpClose, shows jets being buffeted in the air by swirling gales while landing at Manchester Airport on Wednesday. Some aircraft were seen to perform go-arounds - meaning that the pilots decided that it was safer to climb back up into the air rather than continue to land.
It is a standard landing procedure to take a plane around for another go at approaching a runway. Pilots are often forced to use the procedure if they experience a late, sudden gust of wind, as happened due to Storm Agnes yesterday.
The footage shows jets being buffeted in the air by swirling gales (AviationUpclose)Some parts of Britain saw wind speeds of 79mph, while 68mph was recorded in Aberdaron, Wales, 58mph in Glenanne, Northern Ireland, and 54mph in Camborne, Cornwall. Agnes triggered a series of Met Office yellow weather warnings for wind and rain across the UK, with forecasts of damaging winds and stormy seas.
Manchester escaped the worst of the storm, but high winds did hit home in the afternoon and into the evening. The footage captures the skill of pilots approaching Manchester Airport, with a number opting not to land and climbing again.
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AviationUpclose reported a number of "crosswind landings". It said on Wednesday: "The first named storm of the 2023 season, Storm Agnes, hit Ireland and the UK this afternoon with a cyclonic low-pressure system bringing strong gales and torrential rain to much of the British Isles.
A number of planes were forced into performing 'go-arounds' (AviationUpclose)"Much of England saw the edge of the storm itself with southerly and south-easterly winds. Manchester saw gusts of around 35 knots at peak times and although this is relatively low compared to directly affected areas, due to the prevailing direction, there was plenty of crosswind action to see."
The footage was filmed over seven hours - with four go-arounds reported in total. Two flights - from Mahon in Menorca and Munich in Germany - reportedly landed on second attempts. One Eurowings flight, from Dusseldorf in Germany, reportedly abandoned multiple attempts to land at Manchester and returned to Germany.
A go-around is an aborted landing of an aircraft that is on final approach or has already touched down (AviationUpclose)Flooding, travel disruption and power cuts have been reported in the wake of the autumn storm, with another round of rainy and windy conditions expected to hit Britain later on Thursday as a new weather front moves in from the west. Trains between Carlisle and Edinburgh were severely disrupted last night due to the weather, while more travel chaos was seen near Chester when a tree blew onto the tracks, blocking tracks and causing delays for commuters.
In County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, a woman was dramatically rescued from her car in a flooded river on Thursday afternoon amid a frantic rescue mission involving 32 firefighters. The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) was called to the scene in Draperstown shortly after 2.30pm, where crews used a ladder to reach the car from a bridge and stop it from being carried further downstream. But rapidly rising river levels meant the car was soon almost fully submerged, forcing them to act quickly to save the occupant of the vehicle. One crew member then climbed onto the roof of the car, broke the rear window and dragged the woman away to safety.
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