A Spanish Air Force F/A-18 Hornet (EF-18) fighter jet had a close call after it appeared to lose control during an airshow at a crowded beach in Gijon.
During the Gijón Air Festival — which was held over the weekend in Asturias in northern Spain — the jet was performing a low-altitude display when it suddenly pulled off an evasive manoeuvre.
Videos of the incident show the jet turning upside down, trailing black smoke and hurtling towards the sea before swooping away at the last minute.
Videos of the near crash have gone viral on social media, showing Hornet flying at very low altitude towards the beach packed with spectators, when it executed a hard right roll.
The sudden manoeuvre made the jet descend lower than normal, making it seem like the jet was losing control mid-air.
But the plane soon recovered stability and climbed up. The terrifying footage shows puffs of black smoke rising from the plane, shocking the audience, many of whom had their cameras rolling.
The Spanish Air Force later took to X to explain what happened at the airshow and said the pilot performed the evasive manoeuvre to avoid hitting birds in the jet’s flight path. A bird strike while the Hornet was flying at such a low angle toward a crowd could have resulted in a big disaster, and the pilot’s timely actions saved many lives.
