News Terrified passengers were ordered to 'brace, brace, brace' and penned farewell notes to loved ones as a plane taking off from Belfast was forced into an 'awful' emergency landing

Terrified passengers were ordered to 'brace, brace, brace' by crew as a plane from Belfast to the US was forced into making an emergency landing. The United

Airlines service from Belfast to Newark had to divert to Shannon Airport yesterday after pilots raised concerns the landing gear could not be locked in place for a touchdown. The plane took off at 11.10am and ended up circling over the west coast for about two hours to burn off fuel before landing just before 2.30pm. Hollywood actress Geraldine Hughes (bottom right), who starred in Rocky Balboa with Sylvester Stallone, was on the flight and said she penned a farewell note to her partner as 'the possibility was we may not make it'. Brendan McKeown was on his way to New York to celebrate turning 40 with his pregnant wife Lesley-Anne (top right) and they described how people cried and cheered when the plane finally touched down.