BEA reenacts night approach at Nice in probe of 2025 near miss
French investigators flew a night reenactment at Nice Côte d'Azur to examine how runway lighting affected a September 2025 approach in which a Nouvelair A320 descended close to an easyJet A320 holding on the runway.
French accident investigators have staged a night approach at Nice Côte d'Azur Airport as part of their inquiry into a serious incident involving two Airbus A320-200s in September 2025.
The Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) said the reenactment, flown in January 2026, was arranged with French air navigation services, the airport operator and easyJet, which provided a crew. Investigators want to establish how lighting on runways 04L and 04R affected the approaches.
The event happened on the evening of September 21, 2025, at around 21:30. According to the BEA, the Nouvelair crew was cleared to land on runway 04L and acknowledged the clearance, but lined up on runway 04R instead. An easyJet A320 was stopped and aligned with the centreline of 04R at the time.
A preliminary report published in October 2025 said the Nouvelair aircraft's radio altitude fell from 39 ft to 10 ft within one second, then rose to 24 ft the next second, after which the crew carried out a go-around.
The BEA's latest update says its work has focused on the weather at the time, data from the flight recorders, airport air traffic systems and radio communications. Investigators have interviewed the pilots of both flights and the air traffic controllers, and have studied crew and controller training and procedures. The helicopter unit of the French National Gendarmerie, the Hyères Gendarmerie Air Section, assisted with the reenactment flight.
The BEA has not drawn conclusions about the cause of the occurrence.
Sources
- aerotime.aeroBEA reenacts night flight to see how runway lighting impacted Nice near miss