This is the terrifying moment a passenger plane aborts a landing just yards off the runway at Manchester Airport in extreme winds.

The footage, filmed over two minutes by amateur photographer Simon Whittaker, shows the Monarch plane being buffeted in strong gales and heavy rain on approach.

It lurches from side to side in the high winds with its landing gear down and lights on.

As the Airbus A321 prepares to touch down, the footage shows the plane being hit by a fierce crosswind and blown violently to the left.

The captain immediately pulls up and climbs the aircraft.

Manchester Airport said today that five planes due to land on Sunday were diverted to other airports due to the weather.

Three went to East Midlands Airport and two went to Birmingham Airport.

The footage was captured as Manchester and the region was battered by gusts of up to 80mph which felled trees and power lines and caused serious damage to a number of buildings.

Mr Whittaker, 51, who was visiting relatives in Cheadle and on his way to a hotel at the airport at the time, said several other flights were forced to implement ‘go arounds’, aborted landings on final approach.

He said: “The weather was dreadful and treacherous at the airport. It was pouring with rain. I would say there were around 10 aircraft which attempted to land but pulled up on approach.

“The Monarch just drifted off the centre line at the last moment. It must have been a crosswind. The pilot used their discretion and must have decided not to land.

“The pilot would have been fully in control of the aircraft at all times. It would have been scary for the passengers as it was all over the place in the air.

“It went crazy for about an hour because nothing could get in to land and their were diversions.

“It was difficult to even hold the camera still such was the strength of the wind.

“There were a couple of other planes that did the same thing on the day.”

The airport said the diversions yesterday were in force for roughly 30 minutes. It’s not known whether the Monarch captured in the film was involved.

An airport spokesman said that so far, today’s conditions weren’t as bad as yesterday and there’s been no repeat of the issues.

Flights took off as normal.

See pictures of the damage caused by Storm Clodagh in Greater Manchester