People in the town of Keflavik were taken by surprise when an Icelandair passenger jet flew at an alarmingly low altitude over their heads. It turns out the veteran pilot on the flight from Frankfurt to Iceland wanted to buzz his hometown on his last flight before he retires from the airline.
People in the unnamed pilot’s hometown were not impressed that he buzzed the town at such a terrifyingly low altitude of 300 feet. The incident occurred on Saturday, April 11, as the pilot was on his last flight for Icelandair from Frankfurt to Iceland, as he approached Keflavik International Airport.
During the descent, the Boeing 757 reportedly dropped to around 300 feet altitude over Vestmannaeyjar, a volcanic archipelago off southern Iceland, where the pilot spent his childhood. According to residents, the plane passed uncomfortably close to rooftops and tree tops, and some spoke of loud noise and vibration, leading to fears the flight was in distress.
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As noted by the Daily Beast, residents believed the Icelandair flight was likely to crash; however, it was just the pilot’s idea of nostalgia to end his working years above his hometown as he heads into retirement.
According to Icelandair, the pilot carried out the maneuver without authorization and was reported to the police. Meanwhile, according to the chief flight officer Linda Gunnarsdóttir, the actions taken by the retiring pilot fell outside standard procedures, calling the incident “a very serious matter that we will review internally.”
Icelandair said it regrets the disturbance to the residents, confirming that the low-altitude pass was taken without approval. However, the airline did add that it was believed to have been the pilot’s personal farewell gesture ahead of retirement.
The low-altitude passover isn’t the only recent incident occurring at 300 feet. In March 2026, two planes passed with only 300 feet of separation in a scary close call in Newark. This incident involved an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 and a FedEx Boeing 777 cargo aircraft, which came close to colliding while both attempting to land on intersecting runways at Newark Liberty International Airport.
According to flight-tracking data, the near miss occurred at around 8:37 pm as the Alaska flight arrived from Portland, Oregon. The second plane from FedEx was approaching from Memphis, Tennessee.
Flight tracking records from FlightRadar 24 reveal that the passenger jet passed the FedEx plane with roughly 300 feet of separation.
Seconds before touchdown, air traffic controllers at the Newark Liberty International Airport instructed the Alaska plane to abort its landing and circle back while at around 150 feet above the ground. At the same moment, the FedEx aircraft continued its landing on a crossing runway.
A passenger recorded this video immediately following the deadly collision at LaGuardia Airport.https://t.co/voVpqzHyr0 pic.twitter.com/YFq0Ne7NU7
— Eyewitness News (@ABC7NY) March 23, 2026
According to a former Federal Aviation Administration official, this incident highlights the difficulty in coordinating traffic on intersecting runways.
“It is a challenge for a tower controller to get that timing exactly right,” said Michael McCormick, a former FAA vice president. “In this case, the instruction to go around came late, and that’s what led to the situation.”
Both airlines released statements that their crews were following proper procedures. The only effect on the crew in both heart-stopping incidents was a flight attendant on the Air Canada flight who fell 300 feet unharmed in her “robust” jump seat that apparently saved her life.
