RUGBY player Jonny Wilkinson and his team mates narrowly missed being involved in a mid-air collision during a flight to Barcelona on Thursday.

Newcastle Falcons' players and management were on board the easyJet flight when they say they came so close to another plane they could see the passengers on the other aircraft, which crossed their flightpath.

The Falcons' team, including England star Jonny, were on the easyJet 6401 flight, which took off from Newcastle at 9.40am and arrived at 12.45pm European time.

Falcons bosses did not reveal their narrow escape until they got to their hotel across the border in France, where they were preparing to take on Perpignan in a Heineken Cup game.

Falcons coach Rob Andrew said: "The other plane was so close I could see the heads of the individual passengers through its cabin windows.

"How the two planes missed, I will never know, but it confirms my belief in the destiny of this club."

Chairman Dave Thompson said: "It was not a case of the other plane being miles away as is often the case, as it was alarmingly close and I was certain we were going to hit, although neither plane took any evasive action."

EastJet spokeswoman Sarah Pritchett said: "The planes are flying within the legal limit. If there had have been an incident, it would have been reported to the Civil Aviation Authority."

Zoe Beaney, a spokeswoman for the Civil Aviation Authority, said: "There has not been a file reported about an incident of this nature to us. However, the pilot or controllers have up to 96 hours to file such a report."