A Scots passenger has told how a 'brake fault' forced her KLM flight bound for Edinburgh to make a dramatic emergency diversion to Prestwick Airport.
Sarah Crawford was onboard the Dutch airline's flight from Amsterdam to Edinburgh this morning.
The Cityhopper service was due to arrive in the capital around 12.08pm. However as they were preparing to land an electrical fault forced the plane to head south to the Ayrshire travel hub.
Emergency services raced to the tarmac with specialist airport fire crews at Prestwick swarming round the plane upon its arrival.
Sarah, 39, was travelling back from New York with husband Joe Crawford, 69.
The pair from Kirkcaldy were stunned after the mid-air drama saw them land 94 miles away from home.
Sarah told Ayrshire Live: “Everything was fine, it was a completely normal flight until the captain told cabin crew to get ready to land.
“A short moment later there was an announcement saying there was a technical issue, which we were told was an electrical failure.
“They said the only option we had was to head to Prestwick and land there.
“It wasn’t until we had actually landed that were told what was happening.
“The technical explanation was that there is three phases of electricity on the plane and the one which controls the brakes had failed.
“We had to land on the emergency brakes instead.
"We were told that the plane needed 2500m to land and that Edinburgh is only 2400m, whilst Prestwick is 4000m so there was plenty of room to do it."
Sarah has heaped praise on the cabin crew and pilots who kept calm throughout the ordeal.
She added: "It wasn’t any different to any other time I’ve flown. It was just a normal landing.
"The crew just kept calm and assured of everything, that meant that the whole plane was calm.
“When we landed there was a big round of applause.
"To land a plane with no brakes can’t have been easy, so we can’t thank the pilots enough.
"When we got off we could see fire engines arriving to the plane, they spent a bit of time just checking everything over, making sure there wasn't any excess heat from the brakes."
Sarah has joked that she will be buying a lottery ticket after the eventful trip to Prestwick.
Passengers were processed through the airport before buses were on hand to ferry them to Edinburgh.
Pictures from the scene this afternoon show that the plan is still grounded at Prestwick.
Sarah added: "It was quite exciting to see Prestwick Airport as we've never flown from there before.
"I've went and bought a lottery ticket now."
KLM has been contacted for comment.
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