Terrifying Turbulence Forces Ryanair Emergency Landing: Passenger’s Near-Death Experience Sparks Flight Phobia

The passengers on board flight RK 1266 from Manchester to Agadir, Morocco, lived a nightmarish experience. "We had only been in the air for an hour and a half, the plane kept turning left, then right, left, right, I had started to panic. I panicked even more because I wasn’t sitting next to my partner or my friend either," says Ashton Small, 41, who was traveling with his girlfriend Danielle Clark - who was flying for the first time - and his best friend. The plane had taken off around 4 pm.

"The captain then announced that we would have to land at Manchester Airport. We often hear about planes crashing, I thought I was experiencing a near-death experience," reports Dublin Live. The plane had to make an emergency landing in Manchester. "The landing was horrible... I just wanted to get off. I was afraid to see the fire trucks," Ashton continues. He adds: "On landing, I turned off airplane mode on my phone and immediately called my parents. I told them that if anything happened, I loved you both. I told my girlfriend I just wanted to go home."

Panicked, Ashton clung tightly to his seat as the plane landed. "I thought I was going to die. I have a 4-year-old son and the only vacations I’ll take from now on will be road trips. I no longer trust planes, I can’t, not after this," he swore. "I was traumatized by this flight," he told Liverpool Echo.

A Ryanair spokesperson explains what happened: "This flight from Manchester to Agadir (Sunday, March 16) returned to Manchester shortly after takeoff due to a minor technical issue. The aircraft landed normally at Manchester Airport and the passengers disembarked." "To minimize disruption for the affected passengers, we quickly arranged a replacement aircraft for this flight, which departed for Agadir at 7:05 pm (local time) the same day," he added, while offering the company’s sincere apologies to the affected passengers "for the inconvenience."