Latest news with #RhodesInternationalAirport
Daily Mirror
20-05-2025
- Daily Mirror
Screaming tourists 'thought they were going to die' in horror plane landing
British ex-pat Peter Kempson's video of a terrifying failed landing in popular holiday hotspot Rhodes has gone viral, with passengers on the Boeing 737 fearing for their lives Nervous flyers should look away now. In horrifying scenes that left tourists fearing for their lives, a passenger jet 'bounced' down the runway and almost crashed after a chilling 'missed landing'. The Enter Air plane was travelling from Poland to the holiday island of Rhodes in Greece when the windy conditions caused chaos as it attempted to touch down on the runway. The plane had experienced a missed landing, meaning the pilot had to abort his approach at the last minute due to dangerous winds. According to British ex-pat Peter Kempson, who posted a video of the drama on Facebook, the situation was dire. "Having already done one aborted missed approach, the Enter Air Boeing 737-800 (SP-ESE) – arriving from Gdansk, Poland – bounced on the runway and came very close to an engine or wing strike," said the aviation enthusiast, who was enjoying a coffee in the Airport View Café with friend Tony Cowell when he filmed the bumpy landing. The 71-year-old's video attracted more than 300,000 videos on the social media site, with one commenter having first hand experience of the scary landing. "I cried on that plane," said Marta. "I thought we were going to die. Everyone was screaming." Landing on its second approach, the Enter Air plane was filmed bouncing from side-to-side on the runway after the hard landing at Rhodes International Airport last Friday. "Being an aviation enthusiast with a like-minded old friend visiting from the UK, we decided to go to the Airport View Cafe," said Peter. "With the windy conditions that day, we thought the excellent viewing location of the cafe would be worth visiting to watch the arriving aircraft land in the very challenging conditions. "Strong crosswinds can lead to many missed approaches, bumpy landings and diversions at the airport." The plane fan praised the pilot of the Boeing 737 for having "showed great skills in very challenging weather conditions". At the time of landing, there were crosswinds of up to 45kph. "Rhodes Airport is known for challenging landings when the wind is from the south east and above 15 knots," Peter explained. "This is due to hills on the landward side or the airport often creating wind shear. Nine times out of 10, Rhodes airport has westerly winds which align with the runway and are more stable." Reports suggested several other flights had been diverted to nearby airports including Athens, Kos and Dalaman due to the strong winds on Friday. Locals commenting on Peter's video included Terry who said it was: "Very close to fatal crash" with Keeley admitting: "I would be crying if I was on the this one". Other people were full of praise for the skill of the flight crew, with one local saying: "Jeez, that was risky..." and another adding: "Congratulations to the pilots and the crew of the aircraft".
Daily Mail
19-05-2025
- Climate
- Daily Mail
Terrifying video shows passenger jet rocking from side to side before thudding into runway and another aborting landing during storm on Greek holiday island
Planes arriving on the Greek island of Rhodes struggled to touchdown over the weekend, as strong winds rocked aircrafts from side to side, while another jet was forced to abort its landing. Terrifying footage shared on social media platform TikTok shows the moment one plane thudded into the runway on Saturday at Rhodes International Airport after gales violently jolted the passenger jet. A separate video shows how a Lauda Air flight descending on the Greek holiday hotspot was forced to abort its landing after attempting to touchdown due to the extreme winds driven by a fierce storm. Widespread travel chaos hit Greece over the weekend as a result of the severe winds. Photos from inside Rhodes airport shared on social media showed dozens of exhausted passengers sitting on the floor as they faced flight cancellations. One flight from Brussels to Rhodes was diverted to Athens due to the dangerous weather conditions, news outlet Avaitation24 reported. Elsewhere in Crete, crosswinds forced mass delays at Heraklion Airport as pilots struggled to land safely. According to the Hellenic National Meteorological Service, Greece's national weather authority, a severe northeasterly weather front origination from the Tunisian coast moved into the eastern Mediterranean. It comes as Paris Orly Airport was plunged into chaos over the weekend after the breakdown of a control tower, forcing the cancellation of 130 flights. Thousands of passengers were left scrambling for alternative travel routes on Sunday after the airport suffered a 'failure in their air traffic control systems,' according to officials. A spokesman for Aeroports de Paris, which operates the French capital's second busiest airport, said about 40 percent of the day's departures and arrivals had been called off. Passengers hoping to travel to destinations including Spain, Italy, Austria and Germany were left stranded after experiencing flight cancellations, while others endured lengthy delays. France's DGAC civil aviation authority blamed the 'significant' reduction in flight numbers on 'a failure of the air traffic control systems' that had taken place at the Orly tower early yesterday afternoon. Meanwhile, an aviation source revealed that the chaos at the travel hub had been caused by a radar breakdown. The airport spokesman said about half of the 130 cancelled flights were departures, while half had been incoming flights.
