It's a bird, it's a plane, no, it's a 'whale' plane in Shannon

THOSE who use the phrase "When pigs will fly" may have to rethink it as a much bigger mammal was spotted in the skies over Limerick this Thursday.

The Airbus Beluga XL aircraft, which is shaped liked a flying whale, landed in Shannon Airport.

Well hello there! ✈️

What a surprise this afternoon to welcome what some might say (and we're not naming any names) is the "worlds weirdest aircraft" to Shannon Airport! pic.twitter.com/jvZl6oAapo

— Shannon Airport (@ShannonAirport) May 20, 2021

Shannon Airport tweeted about the arrival of the unique cargo plane. 

"The Airbus Beluga XL aircraft arrived from Toulouse for some cross wind component training. Although we can't take credit for the perfect weather conditions for training, at least we can greet them with a friendly smile and Ireland's longest runway," read the Tweet.

Niall Maloney, Airport Operations and Commercial Director, Shannon Airport, said: "Safety management plays a significant role in the aviation industry and in this regard we have always made our runway available for specific crew or aircraft performance training exercises."

He said this Thursday's bad weather created a great opportunity to get real flight experience in windy conditions.

"It isn’t the first time that Shannon has facilitated such training, in fact the majority of all new aircraft models since the 1970s have used Shannon at some time specifically for cross wind component training. It is true what they say every cloud, or in this case gale, has a silver lining," said Mr Maloney.

The Airbus Beluga XL aircraft's bizarre shape is largely down to the fact it is often used to transport large aircraft components, so massive cargo space is required.