Passenger says emergency Prestwick Airport landing sparked by 'brake failure'

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.