A319 comes close to hitting drone near Edinburgh
A commercial aircraft came close to hitting a drone as it approached Edinburgh Airport, according to the UK Airprox Board.
The pilot of the A319 estimated that the drone was no more than 75 feet from the aircraft as it was preparing to land at the Scottish airport at about 12.09 on November 26.
The incident, which occurred at around 3,700 feet, was one of the most serious reported by the Airprox Board last month.
In its report, Airprox said: "The Board considered that the pilot’s estimate of separation, allied to his overall account of the incident, portrayed a situation where collision had only been avoided by providence.
"The A319 pilot had not been able to take avoiding action and so the Board therefore determined the risk to be Category A."
An A320 had also come close to being hit by a drone as it approached Glasgow airport three days earlier.
The first officer reported seeing a red and black drone about 400 feet from the aircraft, which was flying at about 6,000 feet.
The Airprox board deemed it to have been a category B risk.
A pilot of an A320 spotted two drones just 500m to 800m away from his aircraft as he approached Heathrow airport on November 20. He said they were both hovering above the cloud, at 4,500 to 5,500 feet.
The report said: "Although avoiding action was unnecessary, the proximity of the drones compromised the safety of the aircraft both due to their proximity but also because of the distraction that they created to ensure there was no collision risk."
A few minutes later, the pilot of a Boeing 777 also reported seeing a drone as he approached Heathrow airport.
All sightings have been reported to the police but none of the drone operators has been traced.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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