Passengers were left screaming in panic when their commercial jet bounced along the runway after a hard landing.
The tourists, travelling to sunny Greece from Poland, has first experienced an aborted landing.
On the second approach, the Enter Air plane was filmed bouncing from side-to-side on the runway.
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The hard landing was filmed at Rhodes International Airport by British ex-pat Peter Kempson, 71, on Friday (16 May).
Peter, who is originally from Norfolk, said the plane “came very close to an engine or wing strike”.
The aviation enthusiast was enjoying a coffee in the Airport View Café with friend Tony Cowell when he filmed the hair-raising landing.
“Being an aviation enthusiast with a like-minded old friend visiting from the UK, we decided to go to the Airport View Cafe,” Peter, who has two adult sons living in the UK, told What’s The Jam.
“With the windy conditions that day, we thought the excellent viewing location of the cafe would be worth visiting to watch the arriving aircraft land in the very challenging conditions.
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“Strong crosswinds can lead to many missed approaches, bumpy landings and diversions at the airport.”
Despite the bumpy landing, he said the pilot “showed great skills in very challenging weather conditions”.
Peter, who retired to Rhodes with his wife, added: “Having already done one aborted missed approach, the Enter Air Boeing 737-800 (SP-ESE) – arriving from Gdansk, Poland – bounced on the runway and came very close to an engine or wing strike.
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“At the time of landing, there were crosswinds of up to 45kph.
“Rhodes Airport is known for challenging landings when the wind is from the south east and above 15 knots.
“But only when the winds are from south east.
“This is due to hills on the landward side or the airport often creating wind shear.
“Nine times out of 10, Rhodes airport has westerly winds which align with the runway and are more stable.”
According to reports, several other flights were diverted to Athens, Kos, and Dalaman due to the strong gusts on Friday.
Peter’s video went viral on Facebook with 301,000 views and dozens of comments.
One local said: “Jeez, that was risky…”
“Congratulations to the pilots and the crew of the aircraft,” added Dimokritos.
Terry remarked: “Very close to fatal crash.”
Keeley added: “I would be crying if I was on this one, haha.”
Marta said: “I cried on that plane. I thought we were going to die.
“Everyone was screaming.”
