Plane makes terrifying 'lowest ever landing' at island airport
Aviation fans in Greece were left stunned when they witnessed a passenger jet make an incredibly low landing on the island of Skiathos.
In footage shared online, a WizzAir plane is seen flying over the isle’s crystal blue waters as it approaches Skiathos Alexandros Papadiamantis Airport in preparation for landing.
However, the nearer the Airbus A321neo gets, the clearer it becomes that the front wheel of the plane will narrowly avoid grazing bystanders’ heads before clearing the airport’s perimeter fence.
Dust from the road is seen being kicked up by the aircraft’s engine as several people lurch out of the way of the incoming plane, which appears to be flying just metres above.
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The video was shared by GreatFlyer on YouTube and understandably attracted a plethora of comments, with one viewer asking: "How many of the spectators do you think needed new pants?"
“Incredible capture. That was extremely low!” another wrote. “Beyond insane! Great capture!”
The account then asked followers whether the landing was the 'lowest ever' the airport has ever seen, to which a viewer explained that pilots, particularly ones for low cost airlines, aim to stop their planes as swiftly as possible.
They wrote: "High temperature and very short runway, you have to do a deep landing to maximise the available runway for stop.
"Low cost airlines operates with short turnaround times, if you overheat the brakes you mess up the schedule if the plane."
While another commenter hit out at comments suggesting the pilot was ‘showing off’, and penned: "Before jumping to conclusion, let's just say we don't know why the plane ended up so scarily low on a fairly routine approach, but I doubt it was ‘intentional’ ‘showing off’.
"However, the people standing there were definitely standing there intentionally despite the warning signs and traffic lights.
"You cannot get injured if you're not standing there. Glad to see the plan eventually touched down without any damage."
Skiathos Airport has a particularly short runway due to the geography of the island, meaning pilots have to approach lower than they would for other landing strips.
The airport has become a destination for plane watchers and adrenaline junkies to get up close and personal to the underside of a passenger jet and its wheels, despite warning signs on the road. So, we would advise against trying this out.
LADbible has contacted WizzAir for a comment.
Lisa McLoughlin