A plane set to land at Bournemouth was unexpectedly diverted to Gatwick Airport.

A technical issue diverted the Ryanair flight FR3945 from Faro to London Gatwick instead.

Roy Brice, from Westbourne, said he first heard the plane and then saw it circle Bournemouth airport and head towards the New Forest.

He then used an app called Plane Finder to track the plane’s sudden diversion.

Roy said: "It was the most incredible noise that shook through the house.

“The plane wasn’t much more than 500ft from the ground, and it was dropping all the time I was watching it.”

Roy said the plane tracking app showed 10 emergency vehicles were waiting on the Gatwick runway when the plane landed.

The flight departed from Faro at 7.20pm local time on Monday, February 26, before heading to Bournemouth’s Hurn airport.

On approach to destination, the aircraft started a go-around and proceeded immediately to London Gatwick.

Flight FR3945 landed safely at London Gatwick at 10.49pm local time.

The diversion was reportedly due to an issue with the plane’s flaps on approach.

When there is a flap issue, the pilots on an aircraft won’t have enough drag to get down to their optimal landing speed.

These speeds are pre-determined before arrival, with specific configurations on the aircraft to achieve them.

For high-speed approaches, the plane would need more runway so it has enough to come to a stop safely.

It is believed pilots wouldn’t have enough runway length to do this during the incident in Bournemouth because a high-speed approach would be needed.

The plane landed safely at London Gatwick.

Ryanair reportedly arranged coaches to transport passengers back to Bournemouth.

However, these coaches did not arrive, and it is understood passengers were told to ‘make their own way back.'

A spokesperson for Ryanair said: "This flight from Faro to Bournemouth (26 Feb) diverted to Gatwick due to a minor technical issue with the aircraft.

"The aircraft landed normally at Gatwick and was inspected by engineers who cleared the aircraft to return to service later that same day."