Plane loses control on icy runway

A pilot has lost control of an aeroplane on a Siberian runway after temperatures plummeted and a layer of ice formed on the landing strip.

The Siberia Airlines plane was travelling from Beijing to Novosibirsk Tolmachevo Airport, in Russia's south, when it slid along a runway only a short distance from a terminal just after landing on December 24.

The plane was picked up on a security camera gliding along black ice that formed on the runway after temperatures plunged from minus two degrees to minus 20.

The Airbus A320 appeared to be travelling toward another parked plane but started to spin and almost completed a 360 degree turn which helped it avoid the impending collision.  

“The pilot suddenly lost control and the plane pirouetted around, coming too close for comfort to a parked Tu-154 belonging to the same airline,” a witness told La Gazette.

Sibera Airlines, also known as S7, were criticised for not equipping the plane to handle the extreme weather conditions.

No one was injured in the incident.