Heart-stopping moment plane bounces on runway in nail-biting landing at holiday hotspot

The Airbus A321 was seen visibly swaying from side-to-side as it landed in Skiathos, Greece, where it has remained since September after reportedly breaking its landing gear

Footage has captured the nailbiting moment a plane bounced violently on the ground when touching down at an airport.

The plane, an Airbus A321 that was transporting passengers for Danish charter airlines Sunclass Airlines, was seen making a hard landing on September 15. A video posted on social media shows the aircraft drifting towards the runway at Skiathos Airport on the island of Skiathos, in Greece.

The plane can be seen careening precariously as it comes into land, with its wings swaying from side-to-side as a heavy crossroad blasts against its hull. As it finally touches down, the plane skips once on the tarmac and jostles before rolling to a stop further down the runway.

The Airbus, which was registered OY-TCG, was carrying people aboard flight DK1614 from Stockholm Arlanda, Sweden, at the time of the hard landing. Aviation24.be reported that data from flight tracking site Flightradar24.com shows the aircraft remained grounded as of October 3.

Citing information from sources, Avherald.com reported that the plane requires a new landing gear due to the force of the impact, and added that a ferry flight to Copenhagen was provided as a replacement in the meantime.

People watching the footage online gave their verdicts on why the landing was so hard. One social media user said: "Looking it the other approaches it seems like the whole approach wasn't a perfectly aligned one." Another explained the pilot likely had "very little time to react", saying: "Very nasty negative windshear for the Sunclass A321, very little time to react and very little room to recover."

Others were plain shocked by the footage, with one moved commenter saying: "WHOLY insane landing that was a nearly engine wing hit my god." Another said: "Yeah...that landing gear's gonna need replacement. And a third added: "Bit bumpy there." Hard landings are rare but typically caused by factors outside of a pilot's control.

Reasons for this type of landing may include weather conditions at the time of touchdown, potential mechanical problems, the aircraft being weighed down. Pilots may also decide a hard landing is their best course of action in some cases.

The Daily Mirror has reached out to Sunclass Airlines for further comment.