Pilot circles the plane around to allow passengers to catch the stunning view of the Northern Lights

Whether we accept it or not, Northern Lights are something that we all want to witness at least once in our life. Northern Lights, also known as Aurora Borealis, is a natural light display that occurs in the polar regions. It is caused by the interaction of charged particles from the sun with the Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere. The result is a beautiful display of dancing lights in the sky, often in shades of green, pink and purple. The best time to see the Northern Lights is during winter and popular viewing locations include Norway, Finland, Sweden, Iceland and Canada. Seeing the Northern Lights is a breathtaking experience that most people add to their travel bucket lists. During a flight from Reykjavik to Manchester, an EasyJet plane executed a 360-degree turn so that passengers could witness this awe-inspiring display of the Northern Lights, per Daily Mail. 

The pilot took the controlled detour west of the Faroe Islands, which lasted around 10 minutes and happened at approximately 8.30 pm while the Airbus A320 was traveling at 37,000ft (11,000m) and at a speed of almost 500mph. Passengers can capture photos of the stunning celestial event during the detour. All the details were tracked by the flight monitoring website. After getting engaged in Iceland, a fortunate couple who were unable to observe the Northern Lights from the ground managed to capture an amazing photo of the spectacle through their plane window.

Adam Groves, a 27-year-old owner of a recruitment company from Lymm, Cheshire, booked a flight to Reykjavik. Unfortunately, the couple could not witness the aurora during their trip due to cloud cover. Nonetheless, after successfully proposing to his partner Jasmine on a cliff on the Icelandic coast, Adam said that witnessing the phenomenon during their flight home on Monday evening was a unique experience. Adam said, "It was special – I went (to Iceland) with the intention of proposing to my girlfriend under the northern lights, so seeing it on our flight home was a great surprise. We were out there for four nights in Iceland, but we didn't get a chance to see the northern lights due to clouds." He added, "On our flight home, the pilot told us that if we are able to see the lights he'll do a turn to allow us to see it."

"Around half an hour into our flight, the pilot dimmed the lights and we saw the (northern) lights. At first, only the passengers on the left-hand side of the plane could see them, but we were sat on the opposite side," he said. "The pilot turned the plane around so that passengers sitting on the right could see them too." A spokesperson from easyJet said, "We are pleased that the captain on our flight from Reykjavik to Manchester yesterday evening was able to perform a controlled maneuver in order to allow passengers to witness an amazing display from the air of one of nature's greatest sights, the aurora borealis." They added, "Our crew will always go above and beyond for our customers and we're delighted to have been able to share this special view of the northern lights with them." Pictures of the Northern Lights taken by passengers on the easyJet flight have been extensively shared on social media, depicting shades of pink and green illuminating the night sky.