El Al plane (Archive)
Planes nearly collide over Ben Gurion Airport
Iberia Airlines, El Al passenger planes approach runway simultaneously. Both pilots veer away at last second, averting disaster
An El Al Airlines plane and an Iberia Airlines plane came perilously close to colliding over the runway of Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport Thursday.
The El Al 767 Boeing aircraft was coming from Toronto, Canada, on flight 104.
In a conversation with Ynet, the Airports Authority assured that the “security incident” was being examined. Initial assessments suggested the El Al pilot operated according to regulations.
El Al demanded the Transportation Ministry investigate the near-collision.
The Airports Authority described the incident in an official statement: “At roughly 5 p.m…an El Al aircraft and an Iberia aircraft were next to each other approaching the runway. The Iberia plane was in line to land after the El Al plane. The Iberia pilot was informed there was another plane about to land, he made contact and veered from his course.”
The Airports Authority confirmed that the two planes came within dangerously close range of each other but did not collide. Both pilots made sharp turns and veered from their courses after being alerted by the control tower.
A witness, who had been driving on the road next to the airport, described the scene: “I saw an El Al plane about to land, and suddenly on the other side I saw another plane start to land and it looked odd. When I looked to the sky, I saw the two pilots making a sharp turn like I’d never seen a plane make before in my life.
"It looked really scary, totally traumatic. A few more seconds and they would have crashed into each other. All the cars on the road saw what happened. We were totally shocked.”
Hillel Posek contributed to the report
