Pilot turns plane 360 degrees to show passengers northern lights from their windows

The EasyJet pilot turned the plane 360 degrees to ensure passengers on both sides of the aircraft could witness the stunning display of the northern lights. (Image credit: @APTGroves/Twitter)

Passengers on an EasyJet flight from Iceland to Manchester in the UK on Sunday had a special treat when their pilot turned the plane 360 degrees to show them the stunning northern lights.

The plane was travelling from Iceland capital Reykjavik to Manchester at a time when the spectacular northern lights lit up parts of the United Kingdom in a rare display.

A passenger on the EasyJet flight shared images of the northern lights taken from the plane and thanked the pilot for the gesture.

“Big thanks to the @easyJet pilot of EZY1806 from Reykjavik to Manchester who did a 360 fly by mid-flight to make sure all passengers could see the incredible Northern Lights,” Manchester resident Adam Groves tweeted, sharing photos of what he saw from his plane window.

Big thanks to the @easyJet pilot of EZY1806 from Reykjavik to Manchester who did a 360 fly by mid flight to make sure all passengers could see the incredible Northern Lights pic.twitter.com/A4CHi9Hqgo

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— Adam Groves (@APTGroves) February 27, 2023

“The pilot dimmed the cabin lights completely and gave us all an amazing view,” he said.

The pilot turned the plane 360 degrees to ensure passengers on both sides of the aircraft could witness the stunning display of lights.

The passenger’s tweet had over two million views.

Flightradar24, that shows real-time aircraft flight tracking information, showed that the EasyJet flight made a 360 turn over the North Sea.

The sky was lit up with beautiful hues of blue, pink and green, as the Aurora Borealis was clearly visible to the naked eye.

Photographers clicked beautiful photos of the event which are now viral.

The UK Met office attributed the phenomenon to be a mix of “coronal hole high speed stream” that was “combined with a rather fast coronal mass ejection”.

The aurora was visible in North Wales, Cambridgeshire and Shropshire, the Met said.