A SCOTS hen party experienced the holiday flight from hell as their jet made an emergency landing with an engine on fire.
The horrified revellers claim they smelled smoke in the cabin before the Jet2 flight from Alicante to Edinburgh even took off.
And the 41-strong party say the “hesitant” pilot stammered his way through an explanation of the emergency, adding to the sense of panic on board.
To make matters worse, the stricken aircraft was buffeted by turbulence as it limped back to the airport with a burning cable in one of the engines.
Theresa Hogg and her friends from Mayfield, Midlothian, looked at pictures of loved ones and even blessed themselves in the minutes before the aircraft landed safely.
Theresa, 50, travelled to Benidorm for a four-day party ahead of the wedding of Laura Massey, 27.
Theresa, who coordinates a home help agency, said: “We got on the plane all excited about going home.
“When we got on everyone in our party smelled smoke.
“I thought they would have it under control, or it could be something outside.”
She added: “We were about 45 minutes into the flight, which was quite turbulent, when the pilot came on the intercom.”
Theresa said: “He said we came across a bit of a problem and we need to turn back.
“But he never went into what the problem was. He was hesitant which didn’t help. He was going ‘ah’ and ‘erm’ a lot. He didn’t come on and say, ‘Yes, we have a problem’.”
Fearing the worst, Theresa even got to the point of taking out her phone to look at pictures of her granddaughter as the flight doubled back.
As the plane returned through turbulence, the passengers grew increasingly worried.
Theresa continued: “We knew it was quite serious.
“Some of us were worried and panicking. A lot of people were blessing themselves.”
She said a fleet of emergency vehicles approached the plane as it landed – thankfully without injury to any of the passengers or crew.
Theresa said: “It was scary when we did get on another plane as we had to go through taking off etc again, but a lot of people just thought well this is our last flight so let’s hit the bar”
A Jet2 spokeswoman said: “A flight from Alicante to Edinburgh diverted back to Alicante on 19th June due to a minor technical fault.
“Recovery of the flight happened promptly and passengers arrived back in the UK safely after a short delay.”
