Footage shows the ‘unreal’ moment the enormous two-deck airliner was filmed over the motorway
Holidaymakers were stunned when the world’s biggest passenger plane landed in front of them as they whizzed down a busy main road – leaving many baffled users believing it was AI. Footage shows the ‘unreal’ moment an enormous two-deck airliner landing over motorway tunnels near Manchester Airport.
The Airbus A380 is both the largest passenger plane in the world and the only full-length double-deck airline, with only 189 currently in service worldwide. Olly Turton caught the ‘crazy’ footage while travelling as a passenger in his family car as they travelled to the airport to go planespotting in September.
The ‘incredible’ clip shows four lanes of motorists passing through the tunnels on Wilmslow Road in Manchester, which is highly unusual for permitting traffic underneath active runways. After sharing the clip on social media, many were confused it was an optical illusion or AI – so were stunned to learn it was genuine footage.
One planespotter said he had ‘never seen anything like it’ as he got within metres of the airliner, an Airbus A380 – which seats up to 853 passengers across two decks. Emirates runs three A380 flights a day from Manchester Airport to Dubai International Airport and the flight has its own dedicated gate and premier check-in facilities.
Olly, from Yorkshire, said: “I’ve never seen anything like it before. We were a bit shocked, very excited, but I was so happy.”
The 15-year-old, who is a huge aviation enthusiast, regularly travels to air shows around the country with parents Sarah and Gareth Turton. The lad had been hoping to catch sight of the A380, but never expected to get this close.
Olly said: “We wanted to watch the A380 come into land but we thought we’d missed it. As we went under the bridge it was just coming over, we looked up and it was just there. It was crazy. As we approached the tunnel you could hear the engines, it was so loud.”
Aspiring RAF pilot Olly runs a TikTok page where he posts his planespotting videos. Many users were stunned by his post, questioning in the comments if the footage was real.
One user wrote: “AI is getting dangerous.” Another read: “Is this real?” Others were quick to confirm it as genuine footage of Manchester Airport, but conceded they’d never seen such a large plane taxiing over the tunnel.
One comment read: “This for once is not AI. A genuine place in Manchester, I go under it every week. Never managed to capture a big plane though, I just see smaller ones.” Another user wrote: “The fact people think this is fake is hilarious, MCR airport. When I saw this in person it felt so unreal.”
A third added: “I always have my camera ready when we’re driving near here in the hopes of catching a moment like this. Incredible to catch the A380 on it like that.”
