The UK was lashed by Storm Dennis over the weekend and caused havoc among the travel plans of a lot of commuters.
As a precautionary measure, hundreds of flights were canceled ahead of the storm but one Ethihad Airways A380 braved the strong winds but had to land sideways in a harrowing landing that would leave anyone watching at the edge of their seats.
Luckily, the pilot was skilled enough that despite the 91 mph winds, he was able to maneuver the behemoth even as he struggled to maintain control as he approached the landing strip.
The force of the wind was obvious as it hammered the side of the aircraft but it was a good landing and all passengers were safe.
In the meantime, larger airlines such as British Airways and EasyJet were impacted by all the flight cancellations.
EasyJet canceled 352 scheduled flights for Saturday and Sunday while British Airways spokespersons said they opted to merge a few of their short-haul flights from Heathrow heading to the same destination and used larger aircraft that are able to withstand the stronger winds.
A Heathrow Airport spokeswoman said: “To minimize the number of flights canceled at short notice we have taken the joint decision, alongside our airline and air traffic partners, to pre-emptively consolidate today’s schedule.”
It’s not just the planes that encountered mishaps due to Dennis. A ship that was abandoned and adrift since 2018 washed up on the coast of Ireland on February 16 following Storm Dennis.
The MV Alta cargo ship presumably came from either Tanzania or Panama and was spotted in Ballycotton, County Cork.
According to the Irish Coast Guard, the 77-meter freighter became disabled in October 2018 necessitating the rescue of its 10-man crew.
The ship was headed to Greece from Haiti when it ran into some trouble and was left adrift for nearly 20 days. Once their food and water ran low, the crew radioed for help and was rescued.
The freighter was roughly 2,220 km off the coast of Bermuda at the time of the rescue and has been adrift ever since.
The powerful winds from Storm Dennis washed the ship ashore against the rocks of Ballycotton.
Ballycotton RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager John Tattan told The Irish Examiner: “This is one in a million.
“It has come all the way up from the African coast, west of the Spanish coast, west of the English coast and up to the Irish coast.
“I have never, ever seen anything abandoned like that before.”
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