A pilot of a passenger plane arriving at Gatwick Airport reported seeing a 'flying saucer' close to the aircraft during the descent. The sighting was highlighted in a UK Airprox Board report into the April incident, which was among several close encounters involving drones and commercial aircraft in the UK.
Flying saucer near-miss at Gatwick
The A319 pilot was descending and turning left when the object appeared, according to the report. The pilot said it was 'very close in the opposite direction, at the same level to them, past their right wing.' Investigators recorded: 'Approximately 100-300ft from their aircraft wing. The object looked like a disc with darker markings on the rim, a suspected possible drone but not sure. It was very close to the aircraft, but no evasive action was required as they were in a turn already.'
Following an assessment of the near-miss, the board concluded that the safety of the jet had been 'reduced'.
Separate drone encounter near Heathrow
In another incident the same month, an A321 aircraft near Heathrow Airport had a close call with a drone. The crew reported that while turning left over Marlow, a drone flew down the left-hand side of the aircraft at close enough proximity to see details such as its colour, shape and individual spinning propellers.
Airprox officials said: 'The board considered that providence had played a major part in the incident and/or a definite risk of collision had existed.'
RAF pilots spot unidentified craft
The reports follow another encounter involving military personnel. Two Royal Air Force pilots on an air-to-air refuelling mission at 16,000ft over the North Sea off the Norfolk coast spotted an unidentified craft. One pilot inside a Voyager tanker was forced to duck as the object zoomed past at a distance of just 100ft to 150ft. Although the pilot of an accompanying Typhoon fighter also witnessed the object, it failed to show up on radar systems.
