Scotland squad in flight scare ahead of Japan trip

Scotland footballers travelling to Japan for a friendly on Saturday were left shaken after their landing at London’s Heathrow airport had to be aborted seconds from touchdown on Wednesday.

As the British Airways plane carrying George Burley’s squad from Glasgow to London made its final approach to the runway, it was forced to lift upwards to avoid another plane, according to passengers on board.

The plane circled the airport and landed safely 15 minutes later. Nobody was injured in the incident, Scottish Football Association (SFA) spokesman Rob Shorthouse, who was on board the plane, confirmed.

“We were around 50ft off the ground,” the spokesman said. “The front of the plane was too close to another plane, so we had to lift upwards.

“The players reacted in the same way as everyone else onboard the plane. There was a lot of nervous giggling but everyone is okay.”

SFA chief executive Gordon Smith added: “We were on our way down and then we took off again. If you were not a frequent flier then it might have been something but it has happened to me before.

“Indeed, the pilot said, ‘I’ll have another go at it,’ and everyone started laughing.”

The Scotland squad were travelling to Heathrow to catch a connecting flight to Tokyo ahead of Saturday’s friendly in Yokohama.