Plane in near miss with a drone as pilot reports seeing it ‘flash past’ at 6,000ft above Potters Bar in Hertfordshire
The pilot of the A320 aircraft saw the white quadcopter drone outside, reporting to air traffic control that "something had just gone over the top of him"
A DRONE "narrowly avoided" colliding with an airbus after it "flashed past" the cockpit at 6,000 feet, an air safety report revealed yesterday.
The pilot of the A320 aircraft saw the white quadcopter drone outside, reporting to air traffic control that ";something had just gone over the top of him".
Another aircraft had just crossed above but the pilot said the object was red and white in colour, had red and blue stripes on two of the rotor arms and was under a metre in size.
, by a UK Airprox Board, found there was not enough time for the aircraft to complete avoiding action to manoeuvre away from the object, suggesting it posed a threat to the plane.
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The drone distraction happened just north of Potters Bar, Hertfordshire in August last year.
All drone operators are required to observe Air Navigation Order 2016 articles which restrict a person in charge of a small unmanned aircraft to only flying the aircraft if a safe flight can be made.
Operators are not permitted to recklessly or negligently cause or permit an aircraft to endanger any person or property, the report says.
They must also maintain "direct, unaided visual contact" with the aircraft, allowing pilots to monitor its flight path in relation to other vehicles in the sky.
Airprox board members agreed the drone had been operated at an 'conflicting' altitude with the A320, because it beyond direct unaided line-of-sight.
But the drone's owner could not be traced.
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