UPDATE: 20.34pm

Lee Parsons said: "I was in the local park in Brynithel, near Abertillery with my four year old daughter Molly when the aeroplane first appeared, I thought that it was very low for such a big plane. I joked with Molly "that it was that low that it would hit our chimney off".

"When a similar aeroplane appeared shortly after I again joked with Molly about how low it was, unbelievably when it appeared a third time, Molly said "here it is again dad".

"When I got home I noticed that someone had put what looked like a full frame picture of it on facebook, then sightings were coming in from all over, as far away as Aberthaw and as local as the British near Pontypool."

 

UPDATE: 18.24pm

Sue Amos from Monmouth spotted the plane as well. She said: "We were watching the 767 circling over us near Monmouth and tracked it on radar back to Heathrow. I managed to get this photo and my pilot son noticed its landing gear was still down."

Darren Welsh said: "I saw the plane flying low over Oakdale near Blackwood this afternoon. It was around 14.55."

 

UPDATE: 5.07pm

PLANE enthusiast, Geoffrey Stone, 65, was watching the plane from his home.

He regularly watches the planes pass but said for a trans-Atlantic aircraft it was flying unusually low.

"It was overhead circling for well over an hour.

"I thought it might have a problem with its landing gear perhaps.

"I have a scanner which means I can hear air traffic control and I could hear the captain saying he was going to take it to Heathrow," Mr Stone said.

He said the captain had sounded very calm on the radio and suggested the plane could have been circling to reduce its fuel load.

UPDATE: 4.59pm

A Toronto-bound BA flight had to circle for several hours above Gwent after suffering technical problems this afternooon.

Flight BA93 which left Heathrow at 1.15pm and was forced to burn fuel above South Wales in order to reduce weight before it landed back at Heathrow at 4.30pm.

It was forced to return after suffering "technical problems" and is now being inspected by engineers. A spokeswoman for BA said: "We apologise to all of our customers who are inconvenienced by this and hope to get them on their way as soon as possible."

She would not speculate on the nature of problems.

Jordan Watkins, 19 who lives in Blaenavon said he first spotted the planes at round 2pm. "It flew over and I didn't think anything of it, but it came back around a couple of times and flew around in a circle for about 30 mins before it flew off.

"It seemd lower than a normal plane and struck me as a little odd."

UPDATE: 4.20pm

HAVE you seen an aircraft circling above Pontypool? We've had reports of an airliner-sized plane that has been over the area for some time.

Let us know at newsdesk@southwalesargus.co.uk or call 01633 777226.