Madeley: I nearly died in near miss

TERRIFIED telly host Richard Madeley has told how he came close to DYING in a plane crash near-miss.

The 55-year-old former This Morning presenter ( above) says his brush with death made him realise just how often aircraft come close to colliding.

He explained: “I was invited into the cockpit of a jumbo jet coming in to land at LAX in Los Angeles.

“We were closing in on our runway when the co-pilot suddenly shouted, ‘What is THAT!’

“‘That’ was a small propeller aircraft taxiing directly onto our runway, slowly turning to face us.

“The throttles opened and we rocketed up just out of danger.

“‘Does that kind of thing happen often?’, I asked faintly.

“‘On or off the record, Richard?’ ‘Ok, off ’, I said.

“Readers, my lips are sealed. You can draw your own conclusions why.”