Walter Finch
A FLIGHT bound for Tenerife was forced to make a dramatic U-turn back to Gatwick Airport after a ‘mid-air hydraulic failure’.
The pilot of the EasyJet flight of 244 passengers, some of whom had been boozing on duty free vodka all journey, declared an emergency while flying over France.
A number of rowdy British youngsters in their twenties started becoming aggressive and ignoring air stewards, according to other passengers.
The incident occurred about an hour and a half into the flight when the crew announced the hydraulic system failure.
The plane descended to 6,000 feet to burn fuel before safely landing back at Gatwick.
Upon landing, police boarded the aircraft and EasyJet staff warned passengers they would be kicked off and removed from future flights if they misbehaved.
In the end, the disruptive group were banned from the next flight and had to find alternative travel arrangements to Tenerife.
Passenger Brian Marcel, 78, from London, described the situation on board as calm despite the diversion.
He told MailOnline: “The plane is full of young people in their twenties – 244 of us. I could be the grandfather of everyone on board!
“You’re supposed to be sitting down with your seatbelt on but young people have no idea of discipline – they are standing up.
“We were one and a half hours into the flight when they told us that they had lost a hydraulic system.
“The police are meeting us here. We had to be towed because there were no hydraulics.”
As passengers finally left the plane, they were escorted by police officers, who allowed them to disembark one row at a time.
An EasyJet spokesperson said: “The captain of flight EZY8033 from London Gatwick to Tenerife decided to return to Gatwick as a precaution due to a technical issue.
“The captain performed a routine landing, and passengers disembarked normally.
“We are arranging for an alternative aircraft to operate the flight to Tenerife and thank customers for their patience.”
