An amazing and scary video showing a near miss between a Boeging 767 and an Airbus 340 at Barcelona’s airport has become a huge viral hit over the last couple of days. The near miss video was shot on Saturday by a visitor to the airport, had received two million YouTube hits by Monday afternoon.
The dangerous near miss incident is under investigation by Spanish aviation authorities.
Details on Barcelona Airport’s incident
This latest airplane near miss video shows a Boeing 767 from Russian airline UTair suddenly aborting its landing approach as an Aerolineas Argentinas Airbus A340 passes across its landing runway.
Fortunately, no one was injured in the near miss, and the UTair plane circled back around and made a safe landing a few minutes later.
Spain’s aviation regulator said the Committee on Civil Aviation Incidents and Accidents would be investigating the incident.
Statements from Barcelona airport AENA spokeswoman
In an interview about the incident, Barcelona airport AENA spokeswoman told CNN that the UTair pilot had been cleared to land, but made a decision to abort on his own.
The spokeswoman also commented the Aerolineas Argentinas flight had received permission to cross the runway.
The AENA spokeswoman also said there had been no danger of impact between the two aircraft and the perspective of the near miss video made it hard to see there was actually a lot of space between the two planes.It was “not about a collision or a possible collision,” she continued, adding that no complaints had been filed regarding the incident.
CNN aviation analyst Miles O’Brien concurred, saying that, based on plans of the airport he reviewed, the two planes had been close to half a mile apart.
“That said, you see they had to perform a go-around and if you’ve ever been in an airliner that has to performed a go-around, it gets your attention,” he said.
O’Brien also mentioned air crews on the ground usually check to see if the flightpath is clear before crossing a runway as part of standard protocols.
“What we can say here is the system did ultimately work — the last resort that is, but there was a series of mistakes… that led to this.”
