Chennai, Nov. 17: A taxiing SpiceJet aircraft today came within five feet of grazing an Air Deccan in which boarding was underway, but the pilot averted disaster by slamming the brakes on time.

As the Delhi-bound plane was pulling out of its apron at Coimbatore airport around 10.40am, the pilot suddenly spotted that the jet’s right wing had inched dangerously close to the left wing of the parked Mumbai-bound carrier.

Providentially for the 324 fliers in the two planes, the pilot pulled off “a timely stoppage”, airport sources said over phone.

“We cannot imagine what the consequences would have been had the wings got entangled,” a source said. “The plane had come too close to almost hit the (other’s) wing.”

The SpiceJet, which had 148 passengers, was immediately directed by air traffic control to back up to a safe distance and the fliers were asked to disembark. It was then towed away from the Air Deccan and “segregated” to prevent any operational mishap.

The airport sources said the cause of the mishap was neither lack of space nor poor visibility. “It was a minor mistake by the pilot, though he fortunately realised it in time and applied the brakes.”

Explaining that there were certain yellow markings on each parking bay that the pilot was expected to keep to, he said: “He deviated from those markings, leading to dangerous proximity with the parked Air Deccan plane.”

Flights were delayed for an hour after the incident.