Cathay Pacific flight crew saw North Korea's missile test

A crew aboard a Cathay Pacific flight from San Francisco caught sight of North Korea’s most powerful ballistic missile to date falling back to Earth, the airline said Monday.

Chunks of the missile plunged into the sea last week as the twin-jet Airbus cruised at an altitude of 39,000 feet off the coast of Japan.

The crew alerted air traffic controllers in Japan of what they believed was the Hwasong-15’s re-entry and continued on its path to Hong Kong.

The Cathay Pacific crew watched the missile disintegrate as it re-entered the atmosphere, according to the South China Morning Post.

The airline does not plan on changing its flight path in the future because of the Nov. 29 launch.

Captains with two South Korean flights from San Francisco and Los Angeles also witnessed flashes apparently from the launch near Pyongyang, the Morning Post reported.

Experts fear the missile has the potential to reach targets within 8,100 miles, including the continental U.S., after the isolated nation bragged the device soared a staggering 2,780 miles upward.

The International Space Station maintains a fraction of that orbit — 254 miles.