Crown Princess Mette-Marit's plane drama

Norway's Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit were among a number of passengers forced to leave a passenger plane when an engine fault caused smoke to enter the cabin.

Norway's Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit were evacuated from their plane at Copenhagen airport in Denmark on Sunday (05.02.12).

The royals were among 135 passengers who were forced to leave the aircraft when an engine fault caused smoke to enter the cabin just before take-off. The captain released the emergency slides and everyone onboard was able to safely disembark.

Mette-Marit - who has a fear of flying - took to her twitter account to reveal the drama writing: "Ok, my morning turned out a bit more exciting than expected.. Phew (sic)."

She later added: "A warm thank you to a great SAS crew who took care of all the passengers (sic)."

After the drama unfolded and the plane was finally cleared for take-off to return to Oslo, the princess was allowed to sit in the cockpit because of her nervousness.

A source told Danish newspaper Billed-Bladet: "Mette-Marit was allowed to sit in the cockpit. It's something we do to help people with fear of flying, if the captain ok's it."

The royal couple had been in Copenhagen, to celebrate the 40th birthday of Danish Crown Princess Mary.