A family from Florida has riveted the internet with their tale of "the most dangerous flight in the world," as they suffered heavy delays and three failed landing attempts while trying to visit the European island of Madeira.
In a post shared on TikTok under the username mrsblinks, Diana Blinkhorn explained that she and her husband took their three young daughters to visit what she deemed the "magical" Portuguese island, located 577 miles off the Atlantic coast of Morocco. However, getting there was no easy task.
The poster and her family, who travel the world while home-schooling their children, had been living in Portugal for three months when they decided to cross Madeira off their bucket list. However, what was supposed to be a two-hour flight ended up taking over a day instead.
A family traveled to a European island only to have their flight diverted because landing was too dangerous.A family traveled to a European island only to have their flight diverted because landing was too dangerous.www.withtheblinks.comBlinkhorn told Newsweek that while they heard great things about the island, nobody told them about the flight to Cristiano Ronaldo Airport.
"We came to find out it's among the 10 most dangerous airport landings in the world," she said. The airport is surrounded by a combination of sea and mountains and is known for some of the strongest crosswinds. Every time their plane approached the island, it would experience violent turbulence, forcing the pilot to abort landing.
"We made three landing attempts before having to refuel at the nearby island Porto Santo."
In the end the pilots chose to return to Lisbon and try their luck the following day. Ryanair provided the family with transportation to a nearby hotel, overnight accommodation, dinner, breakfast, and then put them on the next flight the following morning, which left Lisbon at 7 a.m. and made it to Madeira on the very first attempt.
"We all felt uneasy, especially the kids, but luckily none of us got sick. That was not the case for the rest of the plane, so that was also very uncomfortable," she added.
Thankfully, the tortuous plane ride didn't stop the poster and her family from enjoying the island.
"Our family absolutely loved Madeira," she said. "It's a beautiful and magical island filled with rich culture and warm people. We had so much fun exploring, hiking, and swimming.
"The food is excellent and we were there at the perfect time for some of their festivals, which was very special. The flight was well worth it and we plan to go back again in the future."
In 2020, Forbes named Cristiano Ronaldo Airport the third "most exciting airport to land at, depending on your fear-of-flying tolerance," behind Tenzing-Hillary Airport in Lukla, Nepal, and the Princess Juliana International Airport in St. Maarten.
Blinkhorn added that her family were definitely "super unlucky," to find bad weather during landing and that this isn't the case for everyone who travels to Madeira.
"Although this travel day was brutal I was so proud of my kids for being so resilient. I hope it doesn't discourage anyone from visiting. It is such a special place and we loved our time there."
A video depicting the family's travails went viral on social media, getting viewers from across TikTok. It has so far received over 10 million views and 854,500 likes on the platform.
One user, anna.austindotto, commented: "My flight went to Lisbon and and somewhere else before going to Madeira it took like 7 hours from London."
Pam Loisel said: "I love how your kids are totally unfazed by the travel inconveniences. You all are doing amazing things!"
Alao Wines added: "Unfortunately it happens often, I've had friends who only managed to make it to the 4th flight, good luck."
Newsweek has reached out to Ryanair for comment via website form.
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