This is the heart-pounding moment a plane with four crew onboard had a "hard landing" at Belfast City Airport during battering high winds.
The dramatic images taken by Michail Savekin show sparks coming from the undercarriage as the plane hurtled down the rain-soaked runway. It shows Aer Lingus Regional ATR 72 slamming nose first on to the tarmac during the nose gear collapse. After skidding on the mangled metal, thankfully, the plane came to a safe stop.
An earlier plane has been filmed aborting its landing instead opting to land at Belfast International Airport where several other planes were diverted to.
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The drama unfolded on Sunday afternoon because of adverse weather conditions. The Aer Lingus regional flight, operated by Emerald Airlines, landed at around 4pm on Sunday after flying from Edinburgh. There were four crew on board and no passengers.
The runway has been closed for the remainder of the day, Belfast City Airport said.
A spokesperson from Emerald Airlines said: “An Emerald Airlines positioning flight, EA701P, with no passengers on board, flying from Edinburgh to Belfast City Airport, December 22 2024, experienced a hard landing upon arriving into Belfast City Airport due to adverse weather conditions.”
A spokesperson the airport said: “At around 16:00 today, Sunday December 22, an Aer Lingus regional flight, operated by Emerald Airlines, had an incident on landing at Belfast City Airport.
“This was a positioning fight with no passengers but four crew members on board.
“The airport’s emergency procedures were enacted. The runway is currently closed and will be for the rest of the day. Passengers are asked to contact their airline.”
A NIFRS spokesperson said: "NIFRS attended an incident at Belfast City Airport at 16:15 on Sunday 22nd December. Four Appliances, a Specialist Rescue Team, a Command Support Unit, and three officers were at scene. At 16:34 NIFRS scaled back our response. We currently have one appliance and three officers on scene."
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