Chilling footage shows how an easyJet plane came within mere feet of a horror crash after another airliner flew directly over it before landing on Sunday.
A reconstruction by flight tracking website Flightradar shows how the incoming Tunisian Nouvelair jet zoomed just 10ft over the grounded easyJet aircraft in Nice Cote d’Azur Airport, before performing a go-around.
A separate video shows how the descending Nouvelair plane was forced to abort the landing as the two jets came incredibly close.
Each airline was carrying around 150 passengers each at the time. No injuries were reported.
The easyJet plane was just seconds away from take-off at the time of the incident, which unfolded after the Novelair plane tried to land at the wrong runway, according to local media.
Passengers on-board the airbus described hearing a loud roar as they waited in their seats to depart.
The noise came from the incoming Nouvelair jet – which was forced to apply full power to avoid colliding with the aircraft and causing mass casualties.
One passenger called Sacha, who was onboard the easyJet plane, told local newspaper Nice Matin: ‘We heard a huge noise in the cabin and felt strong vibrations. The Nouvelair plane passed over us, about three meters away according to the pilots’.
A reconstruction by flight tracking website Flightradar shows how the incoming Tunisian Nouvelair jet zoomed just 10ft over the grounded easyJet aircraft in Nice Cote d’Azur Airport
A separate video shows how the descending Nouvelair plane was forced to abort the landing and perform a go-around manoeuvre as the two jets came incredibly close
Footage shows how close the two aircraft came to each other
A couple onboard the Nouvelair flight who said they ‘almost died’ detailed the horrifying near-miss in a dramatic video which they shared on social platform TikTok.
They described how the pilot suddenly pushed the engines to ‘full throttle’ just seconds before landing, leaving those onboard fearing for their lives.
‘At the last second, the pilot of Nouvelair goes into a go-around: he pushes the engines all the waym the plane goes back into the sky like in a video game. Everyone on the plane? Screaning, panic, cold sweat’, the couple said.
‘Moral of the story? A quiet flight can turn into an episode of Man vs Destiny in two seconds. Fortunately, last night, it was the pilot who saved the game’, they added.
Érard, 29, a passenger onboard the easyJet flight, told local newspaper Le Figaro that the captain was in a ‘visible state of shock’ when he left the flight deck.
‘We saw the captain leave the cockpit. He was crying, his hands were shaking.
‘He told us, ‘We avoided a crash,’ saying it had been a close call by three meters. Several people started crying. He added that he was not able to carry out the flight.’
Érard also said the captain had informed passengers that a crash had been avoided by three metres and that it was the fault of the other airliner.
A couple onboard the Nouvelair flight who said they ‘almost died’ detailed the horrifying near-miss in a dramatic video which they shared on social platform TikTok. They are shown here speaking about their experience after the incident
The couple described how the plane carried out a go-around manoeuvre, leaving passengers fearing for their lives
The incident happened on Sunday evening at Nice Cote d’Azur airport
He added: ‘The plane was about to take off when we heard an enormous noise of engines right alongside. With the storm, the noise was deafening. Everyone froze.’
Sunday’s incident is thought to be one of the closest near misses between two passenger jets.
A Brit who was onboard the Tunisian jet spoke of the fear and confusion endured by passengers.
James Johnson, 33, had been on holiday in Tunis before flying to Nice to spend two days with his friend.
The British man, who lives in New York, said he had never flown with Nouvelair before taking the short trip to southern France.
After the plane’s sudden change of direction shortly before landing, James said he was unaware that he had come ‘within metres’ of his death.
He only then found out about the near miss after reading a story in a local newspaper two days later.
The aircraft began its descent into Nice in the midst of a storm, which James described as having made some passengers feel ‘tense’ about the landing.
He told the Daily Mail: ‘Everything was fine and then this ominous feeling set in on the approach into Nice.
‘It was a blinder of a storm. After I got out of the airport there were thunderclaps setting car alarms off. It was so bad.
‘The wind was causing the plane to sway a bit, and it was quite bumpy on the descent which made it feel quite tense.
‘As we came down to the approach, the plane suddenly revved back up with ferocious power and trajectory.
‘There were women in tears. It wasn’t screaming or on the brink of chaos but there was a real sense of fear.’
Heavy rain was falling when the two nearly collided at around 11.30pm on Sunday.
French transport minister Philippe Tabarot confirmed a potentially catastrophic collision between the two airlines was ‘narrowly avoided’.
The French Bureau d’Enquetes et d’Analyses, or Office of Investigation and Analysis, it has launched an investigation into the ‘serious incident’.
The pilots of the Tunisian Nouvelair jet came under fire by airport management – who blamed them for the near miss.
They said: ‘It seems that the Nouvelair pilot made an error.’
Pilots of the easyJet flight 4706 to Nantes were so shaken by the incident that they chose not to continue the flight, leaving passengers stranded.
Sunday’s incident is thought to be one of the closest near misses between two passenger jets
Both planes were grounded as investigators took flight recordings. The BEA declared it a ‘serious incident’
The agency warned against any premature conclusions however, an official confirmed to French media that the aircraft had approached the wrong runway, as previously speculated.
A spokesperson for EasyJet said: ‘The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is easyJet’s highest priority and in line with procedures, we are fully cooperating with the safety investigation that has been launched in order to understand what happened.’
