Travelers experienced quite the fright when their plane experienced a crash landing at the Belfast City Airport. The plane's landing gear failed to hold after the aircraft flew through high-speed winds.
The heavy winter winds caused the Aer Lingus aircraft to make a harder than anticipated landing. The landing gear ended up collapsing as it landed, causing the aircraft to crash on the side of the runway. It resulted in the airport canceling all flights on Sunday, not reopening until Monday. Emerald Airlines operated the plane for Aer Lingus. It was headed from Edinburgh to Belfast when it crashed at its final destination.
Plane Crash And Heavy Winter Winds
Fortunately, no one was seriously injured. The incident comes after heavy winter winds forced hundreds of cancelations in the U.K.
An Emerald Airlines spokesperson said, "An Emerald Airlines positioning flight, EA701P, with no passengers on board, flying from Edinburgh to Belfast City Airport experienced a hard landing upon arriving into Belfast City Airport due to adverse weather conditions."
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Belfast City Airport said of the plane crash, "At around 4pm today, Sunday 22 December, 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 onboard. 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."
This comes after heavy winter winds combined with holiday congestion to create a perfect storm for travelers. Several airlines canceled their flights or had to delay them at London's Heathrow airport. A British Airways spokesperson said, "Due to adverse weather this weekend, restrictions have been put on the number of flights able to take off and land at Heathrow and therefore we've had to make a small number of cancellations."
They continued, "We're offering free flight changes for those customers booked on short-haul services who don't wish to travel this weekend, and we will be offering rebooking and refund options as always to those whose journeys are disrupted as a result of the restrictions. While the vast majority of our customers will travel as planned, our teams are working hard to help those who have been affected get their travel plans back on track at this important time of year."
