Fresh fears were raised over drones being flown in British airspace last night after it was revealed that one came within a few hundred metres of a passenger jet taking off from Manchester Airport.
The Boeing 757, which was carrying up to 300 passengers, reported a “very frightening” near-miss with a drone at 5,000ft just moments after departure.
According to the UK Airprox Board, which monitors near-misses, the incident was one of five involving drones over a three-month period between May and July this year. Sources told The Times that a further four have been recorded since July, although reports into these have yet to be published.
The incidents will add to demands for an overhaul of the rules governing drones. The government is already considering compulsory registration for owners and a new air traffic control system to track the devices. Reports published yesterday by UKAB, which investigates near-misses, gave details of two incidents at Gillingham in Kent, one over Byfield in Northamptonshire, and one at Welshpool as well as the incident over Manchester.
Investigators ruled that two of the incidents had been “category A” risks — the most serious type of near-miss.
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In one of the incidents at Gillingham, on June 17, a gyroplane passed within 20m of a drone at 1,500ft before the pilot was able to slow his aircraft and take photographs. Investigators used the pictures to work out the model of drone, but its operator was not traced.
The Manchester incident, on May 8, involved a “black quadcopter” passing within 500m of the passenger jet at 5,000ft. Investigators said there had been “no time to react” as the aircraft had “passed slightly above and to the right of the object”. Drones are supposed to be flown only within the operator’s line of sight — typically 500m horizontally and 122m vertically. They should remain 150m away from a congested area.