A passenger on board the Jet2 flight that made an aborted take-off from Glasgow Airport on Friday has revealed the feeling of terror that spread through the cabin.
The airliner was due to leave the Scottish city and head to Alicante in Spain, but the pilot was forced to make a last-second decision to scrap his take-off after black smoke infiltrated the plane.
Alan Masterton, 54, a solicitor from Monifieth, was on board with his wife Sandra and offered extra details surrounding the emergency evacuation of the jet.
He described it as ‘one of the worst experiences of my life’, telling how everything seemed to be normal as the plane accelerated down the runway.
However, just seconds before it should have lifted into the sky, smoke began to appear through the floor, filling the cabin.
Fellow passengers told Mr Masterton that the plane’s right-hand engine had burst into flames during the aborted take-off.
‘It was then that I knew there was a problem, but it felt to me that we were going to take off because the plane was continuing to accelerate. Just at the point when the thing was going to lift, he slammed the anchors on. It was terrifying,’ he told the Courier.
As soon as they came to a halt, people began to fill the aisle in search of a way out and the emergency exits were opened.
Mr Masterton became separated from Sandra in the ensuing melee, but was delighted to find her soon after as she prepared to disembark via an inflatable slide.