Plane was 40 seconds away from space junk disaster

Mar 28, 2007, 22:27 GMT

Wellington - A Chilean airliner heading into Auckland was 40 seconds away from disaster when flaming pieces of space junk fell around it over the South Pacific, according to news reports Thursday.

The space junk is believed to have come from a Russian satellite falling out of orbit.

New Zealand's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) launched an inquiry into the incident after the pilot of the Lan Chile Airbus A-340, which had flown from Santiago, reported the flaming debris passed eight kilometres in front of and behind the plane about 10 minutes after the jet entered New Zealand air space Tuesday night.

The Airways Corporation of New Zealand, which manages air traffic controllers, said the debris came at least 12 hours earlier than Russian authorities had estimated when they advised nearly two weeks ago that a satellite would be entering Earth's atmosphere in the region.

Officials described the incident as 'very, very unusual' and said they were concerned about the risk to aviation safety.

Spokesman Ken Mitchell said it was not uncommon to receive notification of space debris being dumped over the Pacific but the times given were usually quite precise.

A plane spotter, who was monitoring a high-frequency radio broadcast at the time, told Australia's Sydney Morning Herald the pilot reported 'the rumbling noise from the space debris could be heard over the noise of the aircraft.'

The flight landed safely at Auckland Airport early Wednesday.