A jet was forced to turn around 20 minutes into the flight after ‘the cockpit filled with smoke’.
The Virgin Atlantic A330-300 declared an emergency shortly after takeoff from Manchester Airport at about 1pm on Sunday.
Flight VS77 reported a technical issue and turned around while over the Irish sea en-route to the Barbados capital Bridgetown.
Pilots are said to have informed air traffic controllers of ‘dense and acrid smell of smoke’.
Fire engines were awaiting the plane as it landed at Manchester Airport, Airlive reported.
A woman from Rhyl, Wales, posted on X, that it appeared to fly ‘really low’ and at a ‘really strange angle’.
‘I saw it heading towards my direction as was sitting on my bed and looking out of my window the angle it was flying looked really strange… straight away knew something was wrong,’ she added.
She later added: ‘I never see big planes that low over North Wales unless it is an emergency.’
