Two Israel Air Force F-16 fighter jets almost crashed into a Ryanair passenger plane near Ovda Airport, Israel, on March 1st.
The passenger plane was en-route from Krakow, Poland, to Ovda airport, Israel, when two fighter planes, engaged in the training exercises, came “dangerously close”. The Ryanair pilots changed the course at the last minute to avert the crash.
The flight FR-2616 was carrying 162 passengers at the time.
The airline confirmed the incident but said that “These military aircraft were at all times over 3 miles away from the Ryanair aircraft, so the reports of a ‘nearly crash’ or ‘evasive manoeuvres’ are all false and invented. All passengers on board the Ryanair aircraft noticed nothing, since our aircraft never diverted from its cleared flight path to Ovda.”