A passenger jet taking off at Liverpool airport narrowly avoided a collision with a drone that came within 5 metres of the aircraft's wingtip, an investigation into the near miss found.
The pilot spotted the large, black-and-yellow drone immediately after the Airbus A319 took off but it was so close there was nothing he could do to avoid it, he told an air safety board, who found that “chance had played a major part” in avoiding a collision.
The drone pilot could not be found. But members of the air safety board who wrote a report on the incident said it should have been obvious that the unmanned vehicle was endangering the passenger jet, “even if the operator was not ‘aviation-minded’”.
It was one of four narrow misses between drones and commercial passenger airlines recorded in a single month by the UK Airprox Board.
Aircraft coming in to land at Heathrow reported three drone near misses in three days, including one where the pilot could identify the brand of drone that came within 100m of his aircraft “because his son had the very same model”.
In another incident close to the Shard skyscraper in London, a drone flying at 1,500m came within 20m of an Airbus A320 on its descent into Heathrow.
The pilot had no time to take any steps to avoid a collision and only luck prevented a crash, the board found. Under civil aviation rules, unmanned aircraft must be within the eyesight of the operator, which is usually held to mean an altitude of 400ft.
In all the near misses, the police were alerted but the drone operator could not be traced. Several pilots complained that they spotted the drones at a point in the flight when they were already busy preparing to land.
This year has seen a steep rise in reports of drones flying near passenger jets. The Airprox Board, which records near misses between all types of aircraft, has received reports of 56 such incidents in 2016 up to October, compared to 29 for all of 2015 and just six the year before.
In April, a pilot claimed his British Airways Airbus A320 had been hit by a drone as it came in to land at Heathrow, although the then transport secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, later told MPs the incident was unlikely to have been a collision with a drone.
Drone technology has advanced rapidly in recent years, and improved battery life and range mean models that claim they can be controlled from up to 5km away are available for under £1,200 (€1395).
The pilots’ union, Balpa, and Heathrow airport have called for stronger regulation against civilian drones. Last month, a Heathrow spokesman said: “Anyone operating an unmanned aerial vehicle has an obligation to know the rules and ensure they are capable of operating it safely. Doing so in proximity to an airfield or aircraft is both illegal and clearly irresponsible.
“Stronger regulation and enforcement action must be a priority for the government.”
Steve Landells, a flight safety specialist at Balpa, warned last month of the “potential for catastrophe” posed by increasingly powerful drones being flown near airports.
“Pilots are pressing for better education and compulsory registration, during which the rules are made quite clear, and more high-profile prosecutions of offenders,” he said.
“We would like to see drones fitted with technology that would stop them being flown in the wrong places, automatically make them move out of the way if they get too close to other aircraft and, as a last resort, alert air traffic control and pilots of their presence so avoiding action can be taken to prevent a collision.”
The Guardian