40 Seconds

Never have airline passengers been so grateful for getting out of the departure gate a little late: 'Flaming debris' nearly hits jet

The pilots of a Chilean passenger jet reported seeing flaming debris fall past their aircraft as it approached the airport at Auckland, New Zealand.

Lan airline said the captain "made visual contact with incandescent fragments several kilometres away".

New Zealand and Australian media suggested the debris was from a Russian satellite expected to enter the atmosphere later in the day.

But the US space agency Nasa said it was more likely to have been meteors.

'40 second margin'

The Lan Airbus A340 had just entered New Zealand airspace as it approached Auckland's airport when the debris shot by.

The pilots reported the near-miss to air traffic controllers, reportedly saying the noise of the debris breaking the sound barrier could be heard above the roar of his aircraft's engines.

The New Zealand Herald newspaper calculated the debris missed the jet by a margin of 40 seconds.

I could certainly understand, if what the pilots saw looked anything like the picture shown here, how you could think it was satellite debris you were seeing. I spend a lot of time watching meteor showers and I would love to see something like this fireball once. Of course it would probably scare the beejeezus out of me if I was sitting in seat 17F at the time.

There is an interesting story about the picture of the fireball that was seen over Wales.