Sunday, September 21 around 11:30 p.m., an Airbus A320 from Nouvelair from Tunis almost hit an Easyjet device for takeoff at Nice-Côte d’Azur airport. The Tunisian plane had to put the gases back just a few meters from the second device. The Office of Investigation and Analysis (BEA) opened an investigation and seized the black boxes of the two planes to establish responsibilities.
A quasi-collision in the rain in Nice
THE Flight Nouvellair BJ586in the final approach phase, confused track trying to land in extremely degraded weather conditions. At that time, An Easyjet Airbus A320 was about to take off for Nantes.
According to several witnesses, the two planes found themselves less than three meters from each other before the Nouvelair crew interrupted the maneuver urgently. No one injured was reported.
“We heard a huge noise in the cabin and felt strong vibrations,” said an easyJet passenger Journal Var Matin. “The captain was in tears, visibly shocked, and could not leave. The Easyjet to Nantes flight was finally canceled.
The Office of Investigation and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) described the event “D‘serious incident And immediately dispatched investigators to Nice. Black boxes Of the two Airbus A320s were seized on Sunday evening to analyze the flight parameters and radio exchanges. The testimonies of the crews and the control tower will also be collected in order to reconstruct the exact sequence of the events.
Reactions and official communication
The French Minister of Transport, Philippe Tabarot, confirmed on X that a collision had been “narrowly avoided” and praised the mobilization of the air security services.
In a press releasethe Tunisian company Nouvelair spoke “particularly difficult” weather conditionsmarked by very heavy rains and reduced visibility. She ensured to cooperate fully with the French authorities, recalling that “the security of passengers and crews remains its absolute priority”.
The preliminary results of theBlack box analysis should guide the investigation into possible human errors or communication malfunctions. In a case like that of Nice, described asserious incident but without accidentblack boxes should deliver their first lessons fairly quicklywith a possible step report in a few weeks.
The incident recalls the complexity of operations at a high traffic airport, especially in reduced visibility conditions.
