DRONE NEAR MISSES: Hundreds of passengers avoided mid-air crashes with drones this summer
HUNDREDS of jet passengers narrowly avoided mid-air crashes with drones in a new spate of near misses this summer, investigators revealed today.
Hundreds of jet passengers narrowly avoided mid-air crashes with drones
The UK Airprox Board report revealed four close shaves involving passenger jets each carrying as many as 160 passengers plus one with a small executive plane.
Three of the near-misses in July were given the highest degree of risk - A - and in each case the Board said: “A collision had only been narrowly avoided and chance had played a major part”.
On one occasion a drone passed within just 16ft of the wingtip of an A319 soon after it took off from Liverpool John Lennon Airport.
The report said: “The A319 pilot reports that immediately after take-of the captain noticed a large black-and-yellow drone in the right 2 o’clock position.
"As the A 319 climbed through the drone’s level, it passed down the right side about 5 metres from the wing-tip...
“The pilot noted that the drone’s presence was an unnecessary distraction at a critical stage of flight.”
Three of the near-misses in July were given the highest degree of risk
Four days later on July 16 an A320 pilot coming in to land at Heathrow spotted a dark quadrotor drone just 50 ft above his aircraft while he was flying over central London.
A collision had only been narrowly avoided and chance had played a major part
The pilot said: “The event occurred at a period of high workload.”
Like all the other pilots in the highest risk incidents he did not have time to take evasive action.
On one occasion a drone passed within just 16ft of the wingtip of an A319
Two days later another A320 pilot coming in to Heathrow spotted a 1ft black drone just 65ft away at a height of nearly 5,000ft.
And on July 17 an A319 pilot approaching Heathrow spotted a white quadcopter drone about 300ft away.
It was stationary and appeared to be filming jets landing at Heathrow.
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There are up to 100,000 drones flying in the UK - and the number is growing
The next day near Oxford a DA42 executive propeller plane took evasive action when he saw a black four-prop drone 100ft above and 150ft to the side of his plane.
Drones are increasingly becoming a hazard in British airspace, with the Board reporting seven near misses in 11 days in June alone.
There are up to 100,000 drones flying in the UK - and the number is growing.
In September official figures showed that the number of near-misses involving drones had grown from 29 in the whole of last year to 46 in the first nine months of this year.