easyJet flight horror as plane comes within 10ft of huge runway crash

A horror crash was narrowly avoided on Sunday night, at Nice Airport, a popular destination on the French Riviera which handles over 14 million passengers every year and is France's second busiest airport. An easyJet Airbus A320 preparing to depart for Nantes was nearly struck by a Nouvelair flight arriving from Tunisia at Nice Côte d'Azur Airport at approximately 11:30pm local time on Sunday, September 21. The incident unfolded as the French Riviera was under a severe weather warning with heavy rain and thunderstorms battering the region.

While some point to a human error, the airline alleged the incident was due to poor weather conditions. France's Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses (BEA) for Civil Aviation Safety has launched an urgent investigation and classified the event as a "serious incident".

The Service de la navigation aérienne (SNA) is also investigating the incident.

One passenger who was on the easyJet plane told Ici Azur: "We were about to take off on the runway. Then suddenly, our plane stopped, not abruptly, but we could feel that we were no longer moving forward. A minute or two later, the pilot comes out, his voice trembling, and shows us his hand.

"He's in shock. He tells us, literally, 'We just narrowly avoided a plane crash. The plane passed three metres away from us."

In a state of shock, the pilot reportedly refused to leave the tarmac, and the flight was cancelled.

The Nouvelair plane landed about 10 minutes later on the runway it was originally meant to be landing on, runway 04L.

Christophe D, who was on the NouvelAir flight coming back from a holiday in Tunisia with his daughter and wife, told Nice Matin: "As we approached the runway, my wife said the wings were shaking. Suddenly, the pilot applied full power and pulled up. No one understood what was happening. People were pale. We didn't get any information at first."

He added: "When we landed for the second time, I spontaneously applauded and everyone else on the plane did the same. Looking back, we had a narrow escape when I found out on Monday that we had come within three metres of the EasyJet flight. It sends shivers down my spine! But we weren't given any explanation whatsoever on arrival."

Philippe Tabarot, the Transport Minister of France, wrote on X (formerly Twitter) following the incident: "Yesterday, a significant incident occurred at Nice Côte d'Azur Airport, where a collision involving two aircraft from the companies Nouvelair and easyJet was narrowly avoided.

"I immediately requested that an investigation be launched by the Bureau of Investigation and Analysis to shed full light on the precise circumstances of this event."