Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) — Rerouting a commercial flight is rarely a welcome thing for travelers.
But that’s what happened with passengers on at least two flights this week, when their planes turned around to give everyone a good view of the northern lights.
This natural phenomenon is also known as the aurora borealis, and people often pay huge sums to view it from great heights.
Photo taken by passenger Tomo Jarvinen on a recent Finnair flight.
filming: From Tuomo Järvinen
Everyone on board Flight No. 1806 of EasyJet from the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik to Manchester, and Flight 488 of Finnair from Kuusamo in Finland to Helsinki, watched the magical light show. For the price of their tickets only.
Flight-tracking websites showed both planes making a small roll mid-flight.
In a non-Twitter tweet, Kirsey Comey said, “Big thanks to the captain of Finnair Flight AY488 from Kuusamo to Helsinki tonight for doing an unscheduled 360° spin in the air so all passengers can enjoy the magic of the lights.”
CNN contacted Finnair, but did not immediately receive a response.
A pilot on EasyJet Flight 1806 flew a circular path to also show the colored lights.
Ross Sticka was on his way to Manchester with his wife, brother and sister-in-law and managed to take pictures through the window.
Stica told CNN that they learned of people on a previous flight having seen the Northern Lights, and that prompted them to hold up magazines near the window to block out cabin lights in hopes of seeing them for themselves.
Stica confirmed that the EasyJet crew was wonderful, as they turned off the lights so that everyone could see.
His group was lucky because they were on the left side of the plane, he said, and that enabled them to take many photos before the plane turned around.
“Everyone was so excited, many of them had never seen these lights before. We were lucky enough to see them twice during our trip to Iceland. It’s an amazing experience,” Stica added.
The airline is pleased to present a light show
Adam Groves, on Twitter, expressed his thanks to the EasyJet pilot who “turned 360 degrees mid-flight to make sure all passengers could see the amazing Northern Lights”.
EasyJet indicated that it was “delighted” to do so, according to what it said in a statement to CNN.
The captain “managed to perform a controlled maneuver to allow passengers to witness a stunning aerial view of one of the landscape’s greatest landscapes, the Aurora Borealis,” the statement said.
The trip offered a photo opportunity not to be missed.
Tomo Järvinen, a passenger on the Finnair flight, wrote on Twitter: “Unfortunately I didn’t have a proper camera.”
Still, it wasn’t bad for a free show.
New information about the Northern Lights phenomenon was published in 2021.
The authors of a study demonstrated that “the most brilliant aurorae are caused by strong electromagnetic waves during geomagnetic storms.”
The post An “amazing experience” .. Why did two passenger planes make two unexpected fast turns while flying in the air? appeared first on Gatto Presss.