Scots air passengers were at the centre of a midair drama after an engine on their Flyglobespan jet hit problems on a flight to Glasgow.

The Boeing 757, with 162 people on board, developed a fault in one of its two engines, causing it to lose power soon after taking off from Orlando Sanford International Airport on Wednesday night.

It was forced to circle, getting rid of fuel for two hours, before making an emergency landing at the Florida airport.

Some passengers feared the aircraft was going to explode after experiencing the jet judder at around 4000ft. One reportedly saw four bursts of flames.

Flyglobespan said that last night that it was investigating what caused the engine "surge".

Diane Crews, vice-president at the airport, said that the fault caused the pilot to "idle it" and return to Sanford.

The passengers were put in hotels for the night at Flyglobespan's expense. They are expected to return to Scotland this morning.

A Flyglobespan spokesman said: "There was what they call an engine surge which they think is the result of exhaust gases over-combusting. It did not knock out one of the engines. It is like a car backfiring. The passengers might have thought it to be more than it was.

"It may give the impression of blowing up but the engine did not blow up.

"The pilot felt he could not fly the Atlantic with that so he circled for a while, radioed that he was heading back to Sanford and dumped some fuel and landed. It was a precautionary landing."

In October, Flyglobespan had a flying licence suspended over concerns about its operations - the first on a UK carrier in 15 years.

Several services to North America were affected.

The Civil Aviation Authority said the airline was falling short of statutory requirements. The licence was reinstated in early November.