Watch Airbus A320 Buffeted By Strong Winds Abort Landing At Manchester Airport

Footage shows the nerve-racking moment that an Airbus A320 passenger plane was forced to abort landing on Sunday, just a few meters above the runway at Manchester Airport due to high winds. The jetliner aborted its landing after it was buffeted by powerful gales of Storm Clodagh battering Britain.

The remarkable two-minute footage, filmed by an amateur videographer, Simon Whittaker, shows a Monarch Airlines plane lurching and swaying unsteadily from side to side at the Manchester Airport under powerful gusts of up to 80 mph wind that felled trees and power lines and caused severe damage to buildings, according to the Daily Mail.

Watch as the plane descends unsteadily with its landing gear down. At the last moment, a sudden powerful crosswind pushed the big aircraft away from the runway, forcing the captain to abandon landing and fly up into the air.

Manchester Airport authorities said five planes were forced to abort landing on Sunday due to extreme weather conditions. Three of the planes were diverted to East Midlands Airport and two to Birmingham Airport.

ITV reports that 51-year-old Whittaker, who was visiting relatives in Cheadle, saw and filmed the Airbus attempting to land in high winds when he was going to the airport hotel. He also witnessed several other flights forced aborting landing under strong winds and heavy downpour.

“The weather was dreadful and treacherous at the airport. It was pouring with rain. I would say there were around 10 aircraft which attempted to land but pulled up on approach,” Whittaker said. “The Monarch just drifted off the centre line at the last moment. It must have been a crosswind. The pilot used their discretion and must have decided not to land.”

“The pilot would have been fully in control of the aircraft at all times. It would have been scary for the passengers as it was all over the place in the air,” he added. “It went crazy for about an hour because nothing could get in to land and there were diversions. It was difficult to even hold the camera still such was the strength of the wind.”

Airport authorities said flights continued to be diverted for about thirty minutes before conditions improved and flights began taking off and landing as normal.

Storm Clodagh, which blew into Britain from the Atlantic, was accompanied by gusts of up to 80 mph that fell trees and power lines and damaged several buildings.

Photos that emerged online showing the damage caused by the storm included a photo that shows a car crushed by a tree at a hotel in Warrington, Cheshire.

The British Met Office had issued warnings of high winds across the country and heavy snowstorms in the north of England and Scotland, while Wales was expected to see heavy rainfall.

The torrential rainfall has caused heavy flooding in some parts of the country, including York, where several huge trees were uprooted, causing damage to homes and crushing a car. The extreme weather conditions have caused flights to be canceled.

The British media reports that a man died after he ran into the sea to rescue his dog in the midst of the storm.

According to the Daily Mail, lifeboat crews pulled the man in his 50s from the ocean. He was then carried in a helicopter to the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital in Margate. But he died eventually.

A spokesman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, said, “Dover Coastguard got the call just after 12.30 p.m. yesterday, saying a man had gone into the water to rescue his dog. We sent the Deal Coastguard rescue team… The man was then winched from the lifeboat to a helicopter and taken to Margate hospital. He was pulled from the water and all efforts were made to resuscitate him. It looks like the dog is still missing.”

Another case involved a ferry which broke from its mooring. The crew lost control of the ferry as it drifted down the river but eventually regained control.

Meteorologists have warned people in Britain to expect bad weather until the end of the year.

[Image via Adrian Pingstone/Wikimedia Commons]