‘Brace, brace, brace’ horror of Jet2 flight

Paul Worley, from Lytham, was travelling to Manchester Airport from Barcelona with his girlfriend Helen Ellis when the incident happened around 2pm on Thursday.

The Jet2 plane was forced to make an emergency landing after a reported bird strike.

The 28-year-old said: “As we started to come down we felt vibrations.

“We didn’t know what it was. We started to land then took off again, but we didn’t know what was going on.

“The pilot said there was a vibration, which of course we could feel, then the cabin crew came down the aisle and showed us the brace position.

“As we came down they were screaming ‘brace, brace, brace’ at us. There was a banging noise as we came down, not like an explosion, but a repetitive noise, and my girlfriend saw a popping flame out of the left wing. People were crying, it was horrible – there were kids on board.”

The plane landed safely around 2.40pm at Manchester Airport and all 144 passengers disembarked safely.

Mr Worley revealed he had just proposed to his girlfriend, adding the incident had “brought us back down to earth.”

He told The Manchester Evening News: “We didn’t know what was happening – they just told us to brace.

“The worst thing they said was ‘we don’t know what’s happening’.

“It won’t stop me flying again but I’ll be more nervous.

“I had just proposed to my girlfriend so it brought us back down to earth. We are just glad to be back on the ground.”

Woman tells of ‘scariest experience of her life’ on board jet

Mr Worley’s fiancee, Helen Ellis, tweeted after the incident revealing her terror on board the flight from Barcelona.

She tweeted: “Happy to get engaged on holiday followed by scariest experience of my life landing from Barcelona flight in the brace position!”

She added: “Most terrifying experience of my life.

““Never want to hear “brace brace brace” ever again!”

Jet2 issued a statement which read: “Flight LS804 from Barcelona did call for assistance on approach into Manchester as a precautionary measure due to a technical indication.

“The aircraft landed and all passengers have disembarked safely.”