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A picture of the Monarch Airlines aircraft that had an aborted landing. Rio Ferdinand also tweeted in after the bumpy landing.
There was a huge scare for the travelling Manchester United team as they were forced to abort their landing at Cologne airport.
The Monarch Airlines aircraft, in which United’s entire first-team squad and coaching staff were travelling for their UEFA Champions League fixture at Bayer Leverkusen, began to descend as it prepared to land and dropped down to a height of about 400 metres before suddenly taking off again.
Reports claim that a number of passengers on board the aircraft expressed their concern. Initially a stewardess had come over to brief the passengers that there was no problem, but the captain later on addressed the passengers via intercom that it was indeed an aborted landing as there had been another plane on the runway at the time.
Some of the passengers on board were visibly shaken after the incident and expressed as much.
“That was not pleasant,” said one. “Nobody really knew what was going on but everything seemed calm and then the plane suddenly took off again.”
The aircraft eventually landed back at Cologne airport at around 17:40 hrs local time.
United come into the fixture on the back of points dropped against Cardiff at the weekend and the ride got bumpier after this latest incident in the air. Bayer Leverkusen, coached by Liverpool great Sami Hyypia, have had an outstanding season so far as they currently lie second in the Bundesliga. And David Moyes acknowledged before the match that his side had a “big job” ahead.
What’s more ominous for United is their worrisome away form this season and the fact that Leverkusen have won every single game, bar one, at home in the Bay Arena. That was when they were held to a draw by German and European champions Bayern Munich.
The air incident will evoke memories of the horrific Munich air disaster in 1958 where many members of United’s famous ‘Busby Babes’ lost their lives.
