This is the terrifying moment a passenger jet lurched from side to side seconds before it touched down on a Greek holiday island.
In the footage the Sunclass Airlines flight from Stockholm, Sweden, can be seen approaching the runway at Skiathos Airport in Greece.
The plane drifts, seemingly gently, across the blue mediterranean sky. However, the closer the aircraft gets to the tarmac the more violently it appears to tilt.
It then lands with some force as the Airbus A321-200 jolts to one side as it slams into the runway – seemingly nose-first – before reappearing above the brow of the runaway having safely reached solid ground.
Corriere, an Italian media site, reported that strong winds caught the plane off guard as began its descent into Skiathos Airport. During the landing the plane also suffered a damaged landing gear.
The plane then lands with some force as the Airbus A321-200 jolts to one side as it slams into the runway – seemingly nose-first – before reappearing above the brow of the runaway having safely reached solid ground
As it approaches the runway the plane drifts, seemingly gently, across the sky. However, the closer the aircraft gets to the tarmac the more violently it appears to tilt
Since it landed at Skiathos on September 15 the damaged passenger jet has remained stranded on the island.
The Greek Island’s airport is notoriously difficult to land and has been the site of many dramatic landings over the years.
In August 2022, a WizzAir flight made headlines when dramatic footage from Skiathos Airport showed the skimming just yards over tourists’ heads as it came in land.
Even the seasoned plane spotters, who took the footage, appeared shocked as the Airbus jet barrelled towards the tarmac and narrowly cleared the airport’s perimeter fence.
As it narrowly clears the perimeter fence, it is so low that it kicks up dust and sand into the air and ruffles the hair of one man who is seen in the footage flinching.
The airport’s runway is found in the north-east of Skiathos island, and is built in-between two hills that flank the stretch of tarmac. At each end of the tarmac, the Mediterranean sea is just yards away.
Measuring just 5,341-foot (1628 meters), the runway it is barely longer than a mile, putting it in the ‘short and narrow’ category of runways.
By comparison, runways for commercial airlines tend to measure between 7,000 to 12,000 feet. Heathrow’s runway measures at 12,799 feet (around 2.1 miles).
A BA flight landing at Skiathos. The Greek Island’s airport is notoriously difficult to land and has been the site of many dramatic landings over the years
In August 2022, a WizzAir flight made headlines when dramatic footage from Skiathos Airport showed the skimming just yards over tourists’ heads as it came in land
Due to the uneven terrain on the Greek island, the airport was built by reclaiming land from the sea between Skiathos island and the smaller island of Lazareta (a former leper colony) – joining the islands together into a single, larger island.
The relatively short landing strip runs north-to-south and from coast-to-cast, meaning pilots have to approach as low as possible in order to give themselves enough runway to land on and come to a stop. Otherwise, they risk the aircraft going off the end of the runway and into the water.
Because of the short runway, some planes even have to take off with less fuel. Many flights then have to touch down minutes later in nearby Thessaloniki to refuel.
It is a popular tourist attraction on the island to watch planes coming into land but watching from the end of the runway is not without its risks. In July 2022, a 61-year-old British woman was knocked over backwards when she and a group of tourists gathered to watch a plane take off.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
