Dramatic moment pilot aborts his landing at the last second during storm that brought chaos t

8 days ago
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Dramatic moment pilot aborts his landing at the last second during storm that brought chaos to Majorca airport as new footage shows how Spanish holiday hotspots devastated by floods

This is the dramatic moment the pilot of a packed passenger jet aborts his landing during the storm on Tuesday that brought chaos to Majorca's Palma Airport.

He was a split-second from touching down on the sodden tarmac when he decided instead to head back towards the skies for the safety of those on board.

An onlooker thought to be an airport worker could be overheard saying in Spanish: 'He's terrified, he's s*** his pants' as he witnessed the pilot's last-minute change of heart due to the torrential rain battering the runway.

Shortly afterwards airport bosses decided to suspend all operations, leading to the cancellation or diversion of more than 100 planes due to land or take off from the airport that day.

Today air traffic controllers at the airport said the freak weather had left pilots facing almost 'zero visibility' when they came in to land just before the suspension was implemented.

The eye of the storm formed in the airport's landing area at the entrance to Majorca.

Air traffic controllers' spokeswoman Beatriz Gonzalez told local press: 'It wasn't just that the condition of the runway, which was completely flooded, was making landings risky and complicated, but also that visibility for the pilots was practically zero.

'They were telling us they couldn't even see the runway.'

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