At a glance:
- A Sunclass Airlines flight from Stockholm made a turbulent landing at Skiathos Airport, Greece, as strong winds caused the plane to lurch violently side to side.
- The Airbus A321-200 landed nose-first with damaged landing gear, leaving the jet stranded on the island since the September 15 incident.
- Skiathos Airport is notorious for its short, difficult runway, which has caused dramatic landings in the past due to its location between two hills and proximity to the sea.
A Sunclass Airlines flight approaching Skiathos Airport on Greece’s popular holiday island experienced a terrifying landing as the Airbus A321-200 was caught by strong winds during its descent. Video footage shows the aircraft drifting gently at first, but as it nears the runway, the plane begins tilting violently from side to side. The landing, which took place on September 15, resulted in the plane hitting the tarmac nose-first before jolting to one side, ultimately damaging the landing gear.
Look at this horrifying scene:
I’d never fly on an airplane again if that happened to me…
https://x.com/GDTraveltips/status/1841908997462622292/photo/1
The plane was arriving from Stockholm, Sweden, and, according to the Italian media site Corriere, the strong winds played a crucial role in the aircraft’s bumpy landing. Despite the hard landing, the flight landed safely, but the damage to the landing gear left the plane stranded on the island.
Skiathos Airport is infamous for its challenging landings, given its location between two hills and its short 5,341-foot runway, which is barely longer than a mile. For comparison, major airports like Heathrow have runways over 12,000 feet long. Pilots approaching Skiathos Airport must descend at a much lower altitude than usual due to the runway’s size and geography, making landings precarious.
This particular airport has been the site of several dramatic landings over the years. In August 2022, a WizzAir flight made headlines when it skimmed just yards over tourists’ heads as it approached the runway. The event shocked seasoned plane spotters, who are known to gather near the runway’s perimeter to capture footage of the low-flying planes.
The runway’s location adds to the complexity: it is built between Skiathos and the smaller island of Lazareta, with the sea lying just yards away on either side. Pilots must carefully balance their approach, ensuring they touch down early enough to avoid overshooting the runway and ending up in the sea.
Due to the short runway, certain planes landing at Skiathos must take off with reduced fuel, forcing them to land shortly afterward in nearby Thessaloniki to refuel. Tourists often gather to witness planes land and take off, but doing so carries risks, as evidenced by an incident in July 2022, when a 61-year-old British woman was knocked over by the strong winds generated by a plane taking off.
