North Korean missile flies past Cathay Pacific plane mid-flight

Zürich, Switzerland - May 14, 2015: The nose section of an Cathay Pacific Airways Boeing 777 at Zurich International Airport. Cathay Pacific is a member of the Oneworld alliance. Hong Kong International Airport is the primary hub for Cathay Pacific Airways.

Remember when the scariest thing on a plane was finding you had been seated between two squealing babies?

What a pleasant time that was.

In what might be the most terrifying airline news to date, the crew of Cathay Pacific is claiming to have seen North Korea’s latest missile test last week while in the air.

The incident happened during an overnight flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong, and crew aboard have stated they saw the missile re-entering airspace after North Korea launched the deadly weapon at dawn last Wednesday.

Cathay assured the media that the missile was far away from the plane and the flight path was unaffected.

 “At the moment, no one is changing any routes or operating parameters,” the airline said in a statement.

“We remain alert and (will) review the situation as it evolves.”

Cathay is not the first airline to come forward and make the claim, however, with Korean Air pilots on two separate planes also reporting seeing strange flickers of light while flying over Japan.

According to News.com, the planes had flown out of San Francisco and Los Angeles and both were headed for Seoul’s Incheon Airport.

Commenting on the incidents, experts have said the chance of a missile hitting a civilian airline is incredibly low.

“The problem is if the test goes awry in any way, and debris starts falling in … more heavily trafficked areas,” Nuclear strategy expert Vipin Narang said.

“That would still be low probability but more risky.”

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