London - A holiday jet made an emergency landing on Thursday after a suspected bird strike left flames shooting from one engine.
Passengers heard a bang and the Jet2 crew told them: “Brace, brace, brace!”
One woman, fearing she and her children were about to die, texted her mother asking her to take care of her pets.
Some of the 144 on board took videos of orange flames coming from the Boeing 737’s port engine during its descent into Manchester Airport.
Onlookers on the ground told how they heard the jet “popping and backfiring” as it flew low over the city.
Fire crews stood by as the flight from Barcelona landed safely at Manchester 20 minutes after the drama began.
Some passengers posted selfies as they waited to get off the plane. Afterwards several described their ordeal. Kathryn Lowe, 28,from Bolton, who was travelling with her partner Simon Hampson and their three children, texted her mother and asked her to look after her pets.
“It was horrible,” she said. “Simon told me that he’d seen the sparks.
“You could hear the banging. It was just terrifying. I burst into tears. I really thought that might be it. I will still never get on a plane again.”
Mr Hampson, 29, said: “It was really scary. The kids were upset and crying. When I saw the sparks, I couldn’t believe it but I didn’t want to make a scene and frighten everyone else even more.”
Paul Worley, 28, from Lytham, Lancashire, was returning from holiday with girlfriend Helen Ellis, to whom he had just proposed.
Crew members told them, “We don’t know what’s happening”. Mr Worley said: “Then the cabin crew came and showed us the brace position. As we came down they were screaming ‘Brace, brace, brace’.”
An airport worker told the Manchester Evening News: “A bird flew into the engine. The bird was sucked in and that’s what caused it to backfire.” On Thursday night the aircraft, which is almost 28 years old, was being inspected.
Jet2 said the pilot called for assistance during landing “as a precautionary measure due to a technical indication” but declined to confirm that a bird strike was to blame.
Daily Mail
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