Have you ever seen a volcanic eruption from a plane before? Well, for passengers onboard a PLAY Airlines flight from New York to Keflavik got the chance of a lifetime to experience a volcanic eruption from above after a slight detour.
An “unreal” detour
PLAY Airlines flight OG122 took off from New York Stewart International Airport (SFW) on July 10th, bound for Keflavik International Airport (KEF) in Iceland. The aircraft, an Airbus A321neo, took off relatively on time – just 9 minutes later than scheduled. The whole flight went by as normal.
When the flight neared the Icelandic capital, the flight’s captain decided to give their passengers the experience of a lifetime. Ten minutes before landing, the crew decided to make a quick diversion past Keflavik to a volcano eruption just 10 miles away from the airport.
In an interview with ABC News, one passenger onboard, Matthew, described the spectacular event:
“Ten minutes before landing, the captain told us with a very happy voice. He took a little detour over the eruption site and just turned around and so everyone could see it on both sides. It was just unreal. We could just see a fountain of lava emerging from the earth. It was an amazing experience”
The footage of the eruption can be seen here:
Overall, the flight eventually landed 12 minutes earlier than the scheduled time of 04:40. The incredible experience was captured by the passengers on board. Lava can be seen coming out of the volcano with a cloud of ash in the sky above.