Belfast bound holiday flight had near miss
06.06.09
A flight carrying holidaymakers from Turkey to Belfast was forced to take avoiding action to keep a safe distance from a military aircraft, the BBC reports. Passengers travelling on the flight said the plane turned on its side, and one said that he 'thought that was it'.
Thomson Holidays confirmed the captain of a flight operated on its behalf by Skyservice Airlines from Dalaman to Belfast International Airport was forced to take evasive action. A spokesman said: ‘There are no reported injuries but we are taking the incident extremely seriously.’
Glentoran footballer Jason Hill told the BBC he panicked and thought the plane was going to crash. He said: ‘I really thought that was it - when the plane went on its side. All you could see was the sea.’ PJ Gillespie, from Castlederg, said : 'Everybody was screaming, anybody who wasn't screaming was shouting 'get it back, get it back'. Eventually the plane levelled out again and the captain came on immediately to say that he was very sorry for what had happened but he had to take urgent evasive action to avoid a collision.’
The flight continued its journey to Belfast International Airport after the incident on Monday. The Thomson spokesman said that Skyservice Airlines had completed an air proximity report and a full investigation is now being carried out by the Turkish authorities.
Add to: del.icio.us | Digg it | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit
To book belfast airport hotel or belfast airport car park at the lowest price click on these links to belfast airport car parking and belfast airport hotel price comparison pages.
