Heathrow plane landing: Storm Isha video shows planes struggling to land at London airport as wind picks up

Yesterday (Sunday 21 January) planes were spotted landing unsteadily at London’s Heathrow Airport amid Storm Isha. Strong winds and rain hit parts of the country leading to travel chaos and flights being cancelled, delayed or diverted.

Air traffic control restrictions were put in place yesterday with British Airways confirming it had to “make schedule adjustments due to the adverse weather conditions across the UK and Europe caused by Storm Isha.” National Air Traffic Services (Nats) told the PA news agency: “Due to adverse weather conditions across the UK, temporary air traffic restrictions are in place. Restrictions of this sort are only ever applied to maintain safety. Our teams are working closely with airports and airlines to minimise disruption. Passengers should check the status of their flight with their airline.”

A FinnAir flight made a bumpy landing at Heathrow Airport yesterday alongside British Airways flights. YouTube channel Big Jet TV showed a British Airways flight abandoning its landing as the winds picked up in severity. 

The flight wobbles as it comes in to land and immediately bounces off the tarmac as the gales hit. According to the video, the aircraft was unable to land and flew off again to re-circle back. 

Several flights were also diverted yesterday with one Ryanair route from Manchester to Dublin diverted to Paris. Another Ryanair flight from Lanzarote to Dublin was diverted to Bordeaux according to FlightRadar who posted the information on X. One user responded: “Nightmare”. 

A flight travelling from Sharm El Sheikh to Glasgow also declared an emergency yesterday due to Storm Isha. A spokesperson for Glasgow Airport said the TUI flight was “diverted to Manchester due to current weather conditions”. They added: “This is happening across many UK airports due to Storm Isha.”

This morning (Monday 22 January) a rare red warning came into effect for Scotland from 1am to 5am with alerts that some areas could see wind speeds of 100mph causing a “danger to life”. The Met Office is warning people not to go outside and to shelter in place as the storm brings life-threatening winds with flying debris, large waves and beach material being thrown onto coastal roads, sea fronts and homes. There could be damage to buildings and homes, with roofs blown off and power lines brought down, as well as power cuts affecting other services, such as mobile phone coverage.

The warning covers Thurso and Wick to the north, Fraserburgh and Peterhead to the east and goes as far west as Cromarty and Nairn. Amber warnings for wind are covering most of Britain, aside from London and East Anglia where a yellow warning is in place.