THIS is the dramatic moment the pilot of a packed passenger plane aborts landing during the storm that brought chaos to Palma Airport in Mallorca.
He was a split second away from landing on the sodden runway when he decided to return to the sky for the safety of those on board.
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The nerve-wracking clip shows the jet approaching the submerged runway on the flooded island.
But as the aircraft appears to be seconds away from landing on the ground, it takes off back to the ground. sky.
A bystander thought to be an airport employee could be heard saying in Spanish, “He’s terrified, he shit his pants,” upon witnessing the pilot’s change of heart at the last minute.
The runways at Palma de Mallorca airport were seen submerged as torrential rain ravaged the holiday hotspot on Tuesday.
Airport bosses have suspended all operations after severe flooding turned the airport runway into a river.
The suspension, which was in effect from 3pm on Tuesday until around 5:30pm local time, created travel chaos.
Vacationers were left stranded after the cancellation or diversion of the 100 planes that would land or take off from the airport that day.
Air traffic controllers at the airport said the bad weather left pilots with “almost zero visibility” when they landed.
The eye of the storm formed in the landing zone of the airport at the entrance to Mallorca.
Air traffic controllers spokeswoman Beatriz Gonzalez told local media: “Not only did the condition of the runway, which was completely flooded, make landings risky and complicated, but also because visibility for the pilots was practically zero.
“They were telling us they couldn’t even see the runway.”
Airport officials said they had to activate their “emergency plan” after 3.5 inches of water fell in less than an hour.
Footage showed planes landing on the flooded runway as airport workers were seen wading through knee-deep floodwaters.
Frustrated travelers were photographed taking shelter from the rain inside the airport, which handles around 30 million passengers every year.
The deluge was expected to continue until Wednesday, with yellow weather warnings in place for Mallorca and the neighboring islands of Ibiza and Magaluf.
Flooding also hit other holiday spots on the Costa Blanca, including Benidorm, Valencia and Alicante.
In Murcia, a man was trapped in his car after it became stuck in flood waters.
Dramatic footage shows emergency crews removing the roof of the vehicle and extracting the man with the help of a helicopter.
BarcelonaEl Prat airport in El Prat had to close its duty free shops on the same day. The reopening was scheduled for today after damage assessment.
Airport employees also complained that flooding in the parking lot prevented them from starting their cars.
Hailstones fell across parts of eastern and southeastern Spain and snow across the far north within 48 hours.
And in San Antonio, Ibiza, gutters overflowed in some parts of the city, forcing tourists to step over human waste.
Spain is still dealing with the aftermath of the storm as clean-up operations continued today.
The rain finally eased on Thursday, with no further rain forecast by AEMet, Spain’s Meteorological Agency.
British tourists returned to beaches after the rain was replaced by sunshine in Magaluf.
Temperatures at 1pm today in Magaluf reached a staggering 23 degrees Celsius and bar owners were trading briskly on the seafront under blue skies.
The situation was similar on the Costa Blanca, in places like Benidorm, where the popular holiday area was also hit by heavy rain.
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
