Smoke in a plane's cockpit forced pilots to U-turn over the Channel and make an emergency landing back at Gatwick.

Firefighters and other emergency services were waiting for the plane on the runway when it landed half an hour after taking off on Sunday.

The easyJet A319 plane was bound for Bordeaux in France when pilots made the decision to return to the airport after smelling smoke in the cockpit while flying over Seaford.

The plane's route over the south coastThe plane's route over the south coast (Image: FlightAware)

Read more: EasyJet plane with no hot sandwiches makes emergency landing at Gatwick

Airport controllers set aside a stand on the ground for the French Airbus plane to come to a stop, where engineers could check for any damage.

Flight EJU8380 looped back over the Channel, heading back inland over Worthing at around 6.40pm bound for Gatwick's runway 08R.

Air traffic controllers in the tower guided the plane, with up to 156 passengers on board, towards the runway with blue flashing lights coming into view on the ground as the plane got closer to the ground.

Air Traffic Control at GatwickAir Traffic Control at Gatwick (Image: PA)

It was taken to a stand where engineers were able to work out the cause of the smoky smell - said to be a technical fault near the cockpit.

A spokeswoman for the company said: "Flight EJU8380 going from London Gatwick to Bordeaux on September 29 returned to a stand in London Gatwick due to a technical issue which resulted in a smoke smell.

"The aircraft landed safely and all passengers disembarked as per normal in the terminal. Engineers attended the aircraft, as well as emergency services as a routine and precautionary measure only."