A man from Co Derry said he “used every swear word he could think of” after a flight from Bristol set for Belfast turned rocky during Storm Ashley on Sunday evening.
The passenger on Flight EZY138, who does not want to be named, explained that the easyJet flight took off from Bristol at around 4.30pm, almost an hour after it was originally meant to depart.
It then headed straight for Belfast International Airport — and the passengers onboard nearly reached their destination before things turned “scary”.
“It was bumpy going down and then just before we hit the runway, the wind caught us and put the plane up on one side — the wing was fairly close to the runway — then the pilot abandoned it [the landing] and pulled back up.
“He briefly tried to go down again and then pulled back up again, and announced he was going to go for the East Midlands.
“Somewhere in the middle of that, he declared an emergency for low fuel apparently, and we landed in Manchester instead and then sat on the tarmac in Manchester until 11.30pm, waiting to get refuelled.
“We finally landed in Belfast at half-past midnight. Seven hours or something similar is the length of time we sat on the plane.”
When asked if the situation had caused any panic, the Desertmartin native said: “The first landing, I said every bad word I could think of.
“I fly twice a week, back and forward all the time, and I have never had anything as rough as that.
“To top it all off, my phone was dead so I had to borrow a stranger’s phone to sort my lift when we landed eventually.”
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On Sunday morning, the Met Office issued a yellow weather warning for wind, which covered the whole of Northern Ireland, as well as most of the rest of the UK.
Storm Ashley led to sporting matches being cancelled, delayed flights and widespread traffic disruption.
Winds of up to 70mph spread across NI up until midnight.
BBC star Holly Hamilton was also amongst those affected, as she and other travellers on a flight from Heathrow to Belfast City Airport, were forced to sit on the tarmac in Belfast for over two hours after landing in the blustery conditions on Sunday night.
However, the Co Down broadcaster, who presents Consumer Fight Back on BBC Radio Ulster, was just relieved to be securely stationed on solid ground.
“Nobody was complaining. Everybody kind of got it, because while we were sitting on the plane, it was rocking the whole time,” she explained.
Belfast City Airport said that they “appreciate the inconvenience caused by adverse weather conditions”, but that “the safety of our passengers and staff is of the utmost importance”.
Thankfully, passengers did get off — with their belongings in tow — and Holly was grateful that the flight wasn’t diverted to Manchester for the night, as the Bristol to Belfast one was.
EasyJet has been contacted for a response.