Plane in near-miss with drone near Heathrow
A passenger plane had a near-miss with a drone at 10,000ft as it approached Heathrow, according to the latest accidents reports.
Air safety experts UK Airprox Board classified the incident as a category ‘b’, the second most serious out of five categories.
Its report said pilots of the unnamed airline spotted a gadget with multiple arms and up to eight rotors pass by the right hand side of the plane as it was preparing to land.
The drone was estimated to be about 98ft (30m) away from the Airbus A320 and was flying way above the limit of 400ft set for areas around airports.
Pilots said they had no time to react and the UKAB report said ‘safety was not assured’.
Police officers were informed of the incident, which happened on November 11, but could not trace the operator.
It was one of four near misses involving drones listed in the latest UKAB monthly report.
There have been 59 incidents in the past 12 months.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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