Amazing footage shows out-of-control plane

Amateur footage showing an out-of-control jet plane above Moscow has become a web sensation, but Russian authorities are not impressed.

The amazing video, dubbed the ‘dancing plane’, shows a Tu-154 Tupolev aircraft veering from side-to-side above a military aerodrome, before the pilot eventually lands safely at the second attempt.

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The aircraft was reportedly being flown for the first time in 10 years to a repair centre from Chkalovsky airfield near the Russian capital. No passengers were onboard.

A spokesman for the aviation authorities told a Russian news agency that the plane’s steering had malfunctioned, and praised the pilot for landing the plane.

"During a test flight, the steering system broke down on the TU-154B-2 plane belonging to the Defence Ministry's 800th air base,'' the spokesman said.

"Thanks to the great professionalism and supreme skill of the pilots, the crew managed to land on the second attempt at Chkalovsk aerodrome, avoiding casualties among the airforce and the local population.''

Nonetheless, military prosecutors will investigate the incident, which almost lead to an “aviation disaster”.

The Tupolev Tu- 154 entered service in 1972 and has been involved in several accidents and near-misses in recent times.

It was a Tu-154 that crashed near Smolensk last April, killing Polish president Lech Kaczynski and other top government ministers.

In 2001, another Tu-154 crashed into the Black Sea when it was hit by a Ukrainian missile fired during military exercises.

The model is now no longer in production.