ThoseFatted landing in Geneva –
A few meters from Lake Geneva, an Airbus came close to the Versoix crash
One year after a similar incident with an Easyjet plane, a flight from Aegean Airlines almost finished in the lake. The event, which occurred in November 2024, is only made public now.
It was this plane-registered SX-Net-which came close to the accident by landing in Geneva.
Nolan Jungo – GVA spotter
- An Aegean Airlines plane went down dangerously 80 meters above the Lake Geneva.
- Automatic alert systems have warned the crew of an imminent danger, which has given the gases.
- Two similar incidents took place in one year.
On November 27, at 10 a.m., Aegean Airlines A3854 flight Coming from Athens approaches Cointrin. That morning, the weather is quiet: low cloud ceiling, but correct visibility. Nothing suggests the critical situation that will follow.
The passengers may remember this surprising moment: while the plane is about to land after a quick descent, it suddenly puts the gases and resumes altitude. What they probably ignore is that they were very close to an impact with the surface of the Lake Geneva.
The gas delivery procedure in itself is not unusual. What is it are the circumstances in which it occurred. According to a publicly available flight data analysis carried out by the “Tribune de Genève”, the aircraft went down to around 80 meters above the Lake Geneva, at one place, just in front of Port-Choiseul, where it should have stolen about 300 meters higher, during a standard descent.
A few seconds from a drama
Delivered to the company a few weeks earlier, This brand new Airbus A320neo Could have struck the Lake Geneva ten seconds later and hit the water about 500 meters from the banks and the verse dwellings if it had not corrected its trajectory. Knowing that an engine takes about five seconds to reach its maximum thrust. The safety margin was almost zero.
The flight trajectory.
So far, only professionals directly involved knew the existence of this incident. It was made public on July 24, 2025 On the website of the French Investigation and Analysis Office (BEA)which specifies that the investigation is carried out by the Swiss authorities. When publishing these lines, no information has been disseminated On the Swiss Security Inquiry Service website (SESE).
Contacted, the SESE explains that the publication by the BEA follows a formal notification transmitted by its care to the French authority, in accordance with international rules. France, as a manufacturer of the aircraft, is indeed authorized to participate in the survey.
“It is only in a later stage that a preliminary report will be published in Switzerland, which will be done soon,” says Daniel W. Knecht, head of the Aviation estate. He also underlines that “it is not unusual that the preliminary investigation (…) takes several months”. SESE “cannot give more information and detail on this serious incident”.
A precedent at Easyjet
The Aegean flight event recalls a recent precedent: November 5, 2023, An Easyjet A320neo from Edinburgh was also dangerously approached from Lake Genevadescending less than 230 meters above sea level above the lake, when it should have been more than 750 meters away.
There too, an alert had been launched by the Geneva control tower, and the crew had immediately reacted by putting the gases 12 kilometers from the track. The incident had marked the spirits: from controller memory, from unheard of in Geneva. No one imagined that a similar – and more critical scenario – was more critical – would reproduce.
A familiar line driver of Geneva approaches says that the Aegean case was “very close to the disaster”. “They had to sweat, both in the cockpit and in the tower,” he said, adding that “the margin was much lower than in the Easyjet case”.
Too high, then “passed through”
The flight data confirm that after a turn above the Alps, the Greek device aligned itself on the axis of the track, but too high compared to the descent plan.
Clearly, the device was not properly aligned to reach theya guidance system that acts as an invisible corridor towards the track. In order for the automated approach, the plane must be perfectly positioned, both in height and in direction.
It was opposite Port-Choiseul that the Airbus came close to Lake Geneva.
Magali Girardin
According to the first elements available to us, the control tower would then have proposed two options: resume altitude to reposition itself, or continue the descent by correcting the approach. The commander opts for this second option. To reach the descent plan, the crew then initiates a particularly high descent rate. Too high.
Result: the plane misses its interception, “passes through” and continues to dive under the descent plane. This is summed up by the only official comment line published to date by the BEA: ” […]the plane descends well below the descent plane and the crew proceeds to a gas delivery. ”
The alarms sound
A few seconds later, the automatic safeguards are triggered. In the cockpit, the proximity warning alarm raises: “Land!” Ground! Pull up! Pull up! (Editor’s note: Floor! Floor! Raise immediately!))At the same time, the control tower receives a dangerous low altitude alert, confirms Skyguide, the Swiss sky air force.
The controllers ask the crew to resume altitude without delay. For endless seconds, no return reaches the controller. A silence that lets fear the worst – before the Airbus reappears, howling motors.
The device resumes altitude, bypasses the Lake Geneva basin and returns to land without incident eighteen minutes later. According to our information, the aircraft remained grounded, and investigators from Bern immediately seized the recorders and questioned the crew.
A control tower in shock
For the sake of security and as the protocol provides after an emotional high load event, Skyguide noted and replaced the control team.
Solicited, Aegean Airlines indicates in writing: “We were recently informed by the Swiss authorities that an investigation had been launched concerning the A3854 flight of November 2024.” The company specifies that it had already undertaken an internal investigation and that it cooperates fully with the competent authorities and has transmitted all the necessary information. On the other hand, she did not answer our questions about the number of passengers, nor on any measures taken from the crew.
The occurrence of two serious classified incidents, on the same approach and less than a year apart, surprises. “Two cases do not make a series, tempers an expert in the sector, but it remains very worrying.”
Shortened approaches
Surveys will have to determine the specific causes and establish any responsibilities. But a common point already emerges: in both cases, the planes followed short trajectories as a final approach to the Cointrin track.
These “shortened” approaches, although in accordance with and regularly practiced, require a real technical mastery, especially due to the relief.
“Given the Jura and the Alps, it comes down hard, and it requires knowing how to manage both deceleration and slope,” explains a line pilot. “And if, in addition, we arrive too high, that we try to make up for the axis, the risk of finishing in the plane is real. The crews based in Geneva know it by heart. For others, accustomed to flattest terrains, it can quickly become a tracking, ”he adds.
“No systemic problem”
Contacted, The Federal Office of Civil Aviation (OFAC)which validates the approach procedures in Switzerland, indicates that it has been informed of the two events. But he dismisses the idea of a structural or systemic problem: “the initial assessment of the available information did not identify a relationship between the two cases, nor an element calling into question the approach procedure used”, indicates the authority.
OFAC specifies that the number of incidents identified in Geneva complies with that expected for an international airport welcoming more than 130,000 movements per year. It also indicates that the current approach procedure is not subject to revision or risk analysis. “If the SESE survey should indicate different results, the OFAC is ready to review its position,” said its spokesperson Antonello Laveglia.
The fact remains that the Aegean case, the Easyjet incident of Edinburgh, but also a third event in November 2023 – An Airbus Easyjet on the edge of the fuel failure after several aborted landing attempts – look like a black series, fortunately without consequences. To date, no final report has been published for the two incidents involving Easyjet. The Aegean flight investigation is just beginning.
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