This is the terrifying moment a passenger plane lurched back and forth seconds before landing on a Greek resort island.
In the images you can see the Sunclass Airlines flight from Stockholm, Sweden, approaching the runway of Skiathos airport, in Greece.
The plane moves, seemingly smoothly, through the blue Mediterranean sky. However, the closer the plane gets to the runway, the more violently it appears to tilt.
It then lands with some force as the Airbus A321-200 lurches to one side as it crashes onto the runway, apparently nose first, before reappearing over the top of the runway having safely reached solid ground.
CorriereAn Italian media site reported that strong winds caught the plane by surprise as it began its descent toward Skiathos airport. During the landing the plane also suffered damage to the landing gear.
The plane then lands with some force as the Airbus A321-200 lurches to one side as it crashes onto the runway, apparently nose first, before reappearing over the top of the runway having safely reached solid ground.
As it approaches the runway, the plane moves, seemingly smoothly, across the sky. However, the closer the plane gets to the runway, the more violently it appears to tilt.
Since landing in Skiathos on September 15, the damaged passenger plane has remained stranded on the island.
The Greek island’s airport is very difficult to land in and has been the scene of many spectacular landings over the years.
In August 2022, a WizzAir flight made headlines when dramatic footage from Skiathos Airport showed the plane flying just meters above the heads of tourists as it touched down.
Even the experienced plane spotters who took the images seemed surprised when the Airbus plane headed toward the runway and narrowly missed the airport’s perimeter fence.
As it narrowly misses the perimeter fence, it is so low that it raises dust and sand into the air and ruffles the hair of a man seen in the images shuddering.
The airport runway is located in the northeast of the island of Skiathos and is built between two hills that flank the stretch of asphalt. At each end of the asphalt, the Mediterranean Sea is just a few meters away.
Measuring just 1,628 meters (5,341 ft) in length, the runway is just over a mile long, putting it in the “short and narrow” runway category.
By comparison, commercial airline runways tend to measure between 7,000 and 12,000 feet. Heathrow’s runway measures 12,799 feet (about 2.1 miles).
A BA flight landing in Skiathos. The Greek island’s airport is very difficult to land in and has been the scene of many spectacular landings over the years.
In August 2022, a WizzAir flight made headlines when dramatic footage from Skiathos Airport showed the plane flying just meters above the heads of tourists as it touched down.
Due to the uneven terrain of the Greek island, the airport was built by reclaiming land between the island of Skiathos and the smaller island of Lazareta (a former leper colony), joining the islands into a single larger island.
The relatively short runway runs north to south and coast to coast, meaning pilots have to approach as low as possible to have enough runway to land and stop. Otherwise, they risk the plane going off the end of the runway and falling into the water.
Due to the short runway, some planes even have to take off with less fuel. Many flights have to land minutes later in nearby Thessaloniki to refuel.
It’s a popular tourist attraction on the island to watch the planes land, but watching from the end of the runway is not without risk. In July 2022, a 61-year-old British woman fell on her back when she and a group of tourists gathered to watch a plane take off.