Passenger on Flybe jet that crash-landed in Belfast reveals travellers thought they were going to die during terrifying descent
Raymond Hill, 57, said he could see his house as the plane circled and wondered if he'd ever see his family again
A PASSENGER on board the Flybe plane which dramatically crash-landed in Belfast has revealed passengers feared they were going to die during the terrifying descent.
Raymond Hill, 57, who lives near Belfast, said he could see his house as the plane circled and wondered if he'd ever see his family again.
He said the 52 passengers listened in 'eerie silence' as cabin crew went through emergency landing drills shortly after take-off on the Inverness-bound flight.
The jet circled for an hour as staff tried to work out how to fix a problem with the front wheels in mid-air before the captain told passengers and crew to prepare for an emergency landing.
The plane dramatically landed on the tarmac and, incredibly, no-one was injured as the plane came to a halt with its nose on the ground.
Mr Hill : "It seemed like a week up there. We were just holding hands and some people were crying.
"Nobody spoke as the staff went through the drills about what to do when we landed. It was very eerie – no one asked any questions.
"I was sitting at the back of the plane and as we prepared to land it was very, very scary. I looked down on my house as we circled over it and thought that if I ever got off this alive I will never fly again."
The Bombardier Dash 8 Q400, which had 52 passengers and four crew on board, skidded onto the tarmac at Belfast's International Airport.
The pilot declared an emergency on board the Flybe aircraft after spotting a problem at arond 11.20am yesterday.
Dramatic pictures show the aircraft's front-end resting on the tarmac following the drama.
Following the successful landing, in which no passengers were injured, aviation experts and the operations director at Belfast Airport praised the pilot for returning all on board safely.
Alan Whiteside, Belfast International Airport operations director, said: "It was a very good landing.
"The flying skills, landing the aircraft, were superb.
"It became very obvious when it was on approach that the nose wheel was not down so we knew that it was going to be a difficult landing.
"The flight deck crew were superb, they landed on the main undercarriage, they held the nose of the aircraft up to the last possible moment, bleeding off all the air speed and still keeping control and just dropping it at the very last minute.
"That meant it stopped relatively quickly, no issues, no fire with it, and they got it stopped safely on the runway."
He said fire crews were on the scene immediately to assist in evacuating the aircraft.
The emergency response went "extremely smoothly".
"There were a significant number of units because of the serious potential nature of the incident, so they were all on site by the time the aircraft was landing and it all went very smoothly thankfully."