Near miss from space junk.

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By Emma O'Brien

March 29 (Bloomberg) -- A Lan Airlines SA aircraft flying over the
Pacific Ocean on its way to New Zealand came within 40 seconds of
being hit by a debris from a falling Russian satellite, the Dominion
Post said, citing aviation authorities.

The pilot of the Chilean plane, which was traveling to Auckland from
Santiago on March 27, alerted Auckland air traffic controllers after
he saw a flaming pieces of space junk fall 10 kilometers (6.2 miles)
in front of and behind the aircraft, the newspaper said.

The material came from a Russian satellite that was being dumped back
to earth 12 hours ahead of schedule, according to the Post. Airways
New Zealand, which provides air navigation services, was warned a
satellite would fall to earth some time on March 28, the newspaper
said.

New Zealand's Civil Aviation Authority will investigate the incident,
the newspaper said, citing communications manager Bill Sommer. Lan
Airlines declined to comment on the incident when contacted yesterday,
according to the Post.