Hurricane Ophelia: 'Smoke smells' force planes to make emergency landings at Heathrow Airport

The orange sky in London on Monday afternoon
Dominic Lipinski/PA
Patrick Grafton-Green16 October 2017

A number of planes have been forced to make emergency landings at Heathrow Airport as Storm Ophelia pulled tropical dust into the London sky.

Five planes have reportedly made full emergency landings at the airport amid claims of the smell of smoke filling the cockpit due to the Saharan dust.

It comes as the sky over the capital appeared to glow orange on Monday afternoon in a strange phenomenon caused by the former hurricane.

According to experts at the Met Office, the rare spectacle was caused by Storm Ophelia pushing warm air from Africa northwards, and with it came Saharan dust.

As the air moved north towards Ireland and the UK, it gathered smoke and tiny debris from recent wildfires in Spain and Portugal.

A Heathrow Airport spokeswoman confirmed a number of emergency landings had taken place.

Hurricane Ophelia: Red Sun - In pictures

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They came on a difficult day for air travel in the United Kingdom and Ireland, with hundreds of flights grounded as winds reached up to 119mph.

Dramatic footage emerged earlier showing the moment violent winds buffeted an Aer Lingus plane as it landed at Dublin Airport in severe winds.

Seán Hassett posted the video online with the words: “My parents’ flight landing at Dublin Airport, well done to the pilot E1491, my heart was in my mouth!”

Meanwhile another passenger tweeted her thanks to Ryanair for getting her safely from Gatwick to Dublin this afternoon.

Three people have been killed in the Republic of Ireland in incidents related to the storm, one of the biggest to hit the British Isles in years.

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