Passengers 'crying, praying and vomiting' in horror Storm Isha aborted landing
A mum has told of passengers "screaming, crying and being sick" as an easyJet flight to Glasgow battled Storm Isha.
Kirsty Findlay, 40, and her husband Mark, 42, were on their way home from a trip to Amsterdam when their plane was battered by high winds. Images shared by the mum-of-one showed the plane shaking and rocking as it attempted to reach the runway at Glasgow airport at around 7pm on Sunday.
Kirsty, from Irvine, said the experience was so petrifying that Mark sat praying in his seat as passengers around them threw up in sick bags. “It felt like the wind was in control of the plane. We felt helpless. It was really frightening. There were people around screaming, crying and being sick. My husband was actually praying out loud,” she said.
Kirsty claimed the flight’s pilot said the storm’s conditions were the worst conditions he had ever experienced in all his years of flying and the landing was aborted before the plane was diverted to Manchester. "We didn’t actually realise how many times the flight had circled around Glasgow in the air until we later saw it on the Flightradar app. It was crazy," she continued.
The plane's wing as it battled the strong winds
Kirsty in AmsterdamKirsty and Mark had enjoyed a three day break in Amsterdam before their holiday ended in a nightmare. “We didn’t even expect our return flight to take off on Sunday because we were aware of the weather situation back home," she told the Daily Record. “Our nerves were shattered by the end of it all.”
Gales, snow and rain to batter country today with 80mph wind gusts
The couple’s horror journey took place as multiple flights across Scotland struggled to land at their destinations due to high winds on Sunday night. Several routes had to be diverted or cancelled, causing significant disruption to passengers.
A Jet2 passenger also shared the nail-biting moment their flight from Alicante landed in Edinburgh during the storm. Images showed one of the plane’s wings shaking as the aircraft descended before eventually landing on the runway and coming to a halt.
The passenger wrote on TikTok: “Well done to captain David Livingston and crew on the Jet2 LS776 ALI-EDI getting us all home safely through Storm Isha. Landing in 110mph winds was not a good experience but we were clearly in safe hands. Get your hat out for a whip round.”
An easyJet flight from Edinburgh to Bristol was also diverted to Paris as several passengers were forced to sleep on the floor. It’s understood the flight circled Bristol for some time before the pilot was forced to abort.
Passenger Tom Shepard told how they landed in the French capital and had to wait on the tarmac for around three hours while staff debated whether it was worth returning to their original destination. The decision was then made to remain in Paris and dozens of people were reportedly forced to stay in the airport.
They were offered water and food but some, including elderly passengers, had to sleep on the floor. Tom, 39, said: “We thought the flight was going to be cancelled because flights to Cardiff and Southampton had been and they are pretty close to Bristol.
“We were circling Bristol Airport for some time and then the pilot said we were being diverted to Paris. We thought he was joking at first. We couldn’t believe there was no other airport in the UK that we could land at.”
An EasyJet spokesperson said: "Storm Isha impacted all airlines' operations on Sunday 21 January unfortunately causing some diversions including flight EZY3174 from Amsterdam to Glasgow which diverted to Manchester and landed normally in line with procedures. As the weather was not set to improve, the flight was delayed overnight.
"We did all possible to minimise the impact of the disruption, providing hotel accommodation and meals for those who required them. The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is easyJet’s highest priority and while this was outside of our control, we would like to apologise to customers for the inconvenience caused as a result of the weather."
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