Harrowing moment passenger avoids crash with jet

Shocking footage has captured a jaw-dropping close call on the runway at a US airport and the pilot’s stunned reaction. See the video.

A Southwest plane and a private jet nearly collided at Chicago Midway Airport, according to reports.

Southwest Airlines Flight 2504 was forced to abort landing and pull back up into the air after the private jet rolled across its runway “without authorisation,” the FAA told The Post.

Alarming footage from the incident showed the Southwest plane come within feet of touching down, while just yards ahead, the private Challenger 350 jet began to roll across its path.

Southwest Flight 2504 – a Boeing 737 – pulled sharply up to avoid what would have been a catastrophic collision.

The passenger plane narrowly avoided the private jet. Picture: X

The passenger plane circled the airport, and then landed about 10 minutes later, data from FlightAware showed.

It had departed from Omaha, Nebraska, that morning, while the private plane left for Knoxville, Tennessee, a few minutes after the incident.

Nobody was hurt in the close call, according to Southwest.

“The crew followed safety procedures and the flight landed without incident,” the airline told CNN.

“Nothing is more important to Southwest than the safety of our customers and employees.”

The FAA is investigating the incident.

It comes as a spate of airline accidents have grabbed headlines in recent weeks.

In late January, 67 people were killed after a US Army helicopter collided with a landing American Airlines plane near Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC.

Days later, seven people were killed and dozens injured when an ambulance jet dropped from the sky and exploded in a ball of fire on a busy Philadelphia street.

And just last week, passengers on a Delta Airlines flight narrowly avoided death when their plane crash landed at Toronto Pearson International Airport on February 17 – a crash which left the plane upside down and engulfed in flames.

TERRIFYING MOMENT PASSENGERS FLEE HAZE

A Delta Air Lines flight bound for South Carolina was forced to return to Atlanta when “haze” filled the cabin — just two days after a hauntingly similar mishap diverted another Delta flight to Los Angeles.

Delta Flt. 876 was in the air with 99 passengers and crew on board around 8:30am (12.30am AEDT) when the pilot turned the Boeing 717 around and landed back at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Everyone was evacuated on emergency slides, Fox5 in Atlanta said. There were no reported injuries.

Ninety-nine passengers and crew were on board the Delta flight at the time. Picture: Supplied

“We are being evacuated off the plane,” ​a passenger said in a video of the midair mishap posted by 11Alive News. “I recorded the whole time. I recorded the evacuation, smoke and all.”

Footage taken before the plane returned to Atlanta shows passengers covering their noses inside the hazy cabin.

“The flight crew followed procedures to return to Atlanta when haze inside the aircraft was observed after departure,” a Delta ​rep said in a statement.

Passengers on a Delta Airlines plane were forced to evacuate when the cabin filled with a hazy smoke. Picture: ABC News

Passengers on the Delta flight were evacuated on emergency slides. Picture: Supplied

“Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and people, and we apologise to our customers for the experience.”

The US Federal Aviation Administration said it would investigate.

The incident marks the third recent ​such situation involving ​a Delta flight, including ​one involving an Airbus A350-900 bound for Australia ​that had to return to Los Angeles on Saturday ​when smoke was detected on board with 162 passengers.

This article was originally published on the New York Post