A British Airways flight was just a few feet away from crashing into an illegally-flown drone at a height of 9,600ft over the Kent countryside, according to a report.
The flight was carrying up to 180 passengers from Athens to London Heathrow and was flying at more than 250mph when it came into close contact with the drone, just five feet away. The incident is thought to be one of the closest ever near misses between a BA jet and a drone. The incident happened on January 3 at just before 4.30pm. The Airbus A321 was moving into a holding pattern close to Sevenoaks while waiting to make the final descent into Heathrow.
The drone was being flown at 24 times the usual maximum legal height for the devices which is just 400ft. It is believed that the operator of the drone was never found, but if caught they could have been jailed for up to five years for endangering an aircraft. According to the report by the UK Airprox Board, pilots estimated the drone as being around 5ft over their wing and just 30ft from their cockpit.
In recent years, pilots have warned of the risk of drones causing potentially catastrophic damage by being sucked into a jet engine or breaking a windscreen. It is believed that the drone operator was trying to get interesting footage of the airliner in mid-air. The report said: "It was small, but had the distinctive shape of a drone. The object passed down the right-hand side of the aircraft and over their right wing. Details were passed immediately to London ATC (air traffic control) who informed the pilot of the aircraft behind them."
"Analysis of the radar by Safety Investigations indicated that there were no primary or secondary contacts associated with the drone report visible on radar at the approximate time of the event. In the Board’s opinion the reported altitude and/or description of the object were sufficient to indicate that it could have been a drone," the reported added, according to Mail Online. A British Airways spokesperson said: ‘We take such matters extremely seriously and our pilots report incidents so that the authorities can investigate and take appropriate action.’