Another airline tragedy almost happened over the weekend when a plane came within just feet of crashing into another flight. The terrifying near miss conjures images of the deadly crash that happened at Ronald Reagan Airport in DC.
This particular almost-tragedy happened off Southern France. An EasyJet plane prepared to take off when it almost collided with another plane at the airport. Passengers reported hearing a terrifying roar as they taxed on the runway. That noise was an incoming Tunisian Nouvelair jet. The flight had to use all of its power to avoid crashing into the EasyJet.
According to the EasyJet pilot, the two planes were just 10 feet away from crashing into them. So what happened? Well, according to The Times, the Tunisian plane had mistakenly aimed for the wrong runway upon landing at Nice Cote d'Azur Airport. This essentially brought the two planes on a collision course.
Plane Almost Hits Another
The incident happened on Sunday. Heavy rain and bad weather may have contributed to the misunderstanding, but with 300 passengers across two planes, it would have been a very deadly mistake.
French transport minister Philippe Tabarot commented on the situation, saying the plane narrowly avoided a tragedy. He called for an immediate investigation into what happened. But so far, airport management placed the blame solely on the Tunisian Nouvelair pilots.
They said, "It seems that the Nouvelair pilot made an error."
One terrified passenger said that the pilot on the EasyJet flight was in a state of shock after departing the flight.
He said, "The plane was about to take off when we heard an enormous noise of engines right alongside." The pilot was freaked out by how close the two planes came to crashing into each other. Meanwhile, the BEA has declared the incident a "serious" matter. They're investigating the flight records of both planes to figure out what went wrong.
The agency warned against casting blame too early. But the plane passengers are just glad to be alive.
