This picture looks like the nightmarish moments before a mid-air collision, but breathe easy! It was just a lucky shot by photographer Sebastian Lebigrand, who was aiming for the moon and caught these two planes passing each other at completely different altitudes: apparently they are 300m apart.
The RyanAir plane is cruising at 36,000 feet, while IberianAir is at 37,000 feet.
Lebigrand has a knack for perfectly timed pics, using a 102mm refracting telescope and a Canon EOS 60D — most notably with this awesome series that makes it look like commercial airliners are on their way to space. He lives in Crépy-en-Valois, about 70km east of Paris, which, from the looks of it, is just below a hub of flight patterns in and out of the French capital.
Even knowing that everyone is safe and sound and all these journeys had a happy ending, they still make me pretty nervous.