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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Lucy Williamson

Storm Eunice: Petrifying moment plane rocks from side to side amid ferocious gales

Storm Eunie is hitting Britain and air travellers were left terror-struck after a plane they were on jolted from side to side as the 90mph violent winds hit.

The Met Office has issued several danger-to-life red weather warnings across the country as Britons are face life-endangering conditions as a result of fierce winds, snow, ice and rain.

Footage taken today at Birmingham’s BHX Airport shows a Vueling plane from Paris to Birmingham vigorously rocking from side to side as it approached the runway.

A Ryanair flight from Dublin can later be seen "crabbing" before landing at the Midlands airport.

"Crabbing" means to point the nose of the aircraft partially into the wind, to the left or right, while keeping the plane itself moving towards the runway.

The plane at Birmingham City airport can be seen shaking from side to side amid strong Storm Eunice gales (Newsflare)

In the midst of a busy period due to school half-term, a number of flights have been cancelled coming into and out of Birmingham Airport today to destinations including Dublin, Paris, Amsterdam, Munich and Frankfurt.

Winds are expected to be at their fiercest between midday and 2pm in the West Midlands.

Elsewhere, British Airways alone has cancelled at least 80 flights to and from London airports: 44 serving Heathrow, 36 at London City.

All the cancellations so far are domestic and European.

Many half-term flights have been cancelled as a result of Storm Eunice (Newsflare)
Winds of 122mph were recorded in Needles on Friday (Newsflare)

Several other airlines have cancelled some flights in and out of Heathrow, including Aer Lingus from Cork and Dublin, Swiss from Zurich, Lufthansa from Frankfurt and KLM from Amsterdam.

Loganair has also cancelled more than 30 domestic flights including routes from Manchester, Aberdeen, Liverpool and the Isle of Man.

At Gatwick, there were 15 cancellations and 67 delayed flights.

Airports and operators are advising customers to check their websites for the latest flight information and to leave extra time to travel to the airport in case of disruption to the roads.

National Highways said high-sided vehicles and other “vulnerable” vehicles such as caravans and motorbikes could be blown over so should avoid bridges and viaducts.

National Highways head of road safety Jeremy Phillips urged those travelling to “plan your trip and take extra care, allowing more time for your journey”.

He said: “In high winds, there’s a particular risk to lorries, caravans and motorbikes so we’d advise drivers of these vehicles to slow down.”

Network Rail urged customers to avoid travelling on Friday, with many services either cancelled or delayed, and trains running at 50mph due to the increased risk of having to brake for debris on the track.

No trains will operate in Wales for the entire day.

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