On January 3, 2024, a plane crash was narrowly avoided in the United Kingdom. An Airbus 321, which was flying at around 10,000 feet when it came within two meters of a drone, was about to land at London’s Heathrow Airport.
An Airbus A321 operating from Athens to London Heathrow encountered a drone in the skies over Kent, UK last January. A face-to-face encounter which could have turned out to be dramatic, but the accident was avoided.
Collision narrowly avoided
British Airways flight carries 180 passengers to London airport, reveals Daily Mail. It is at approximately 9,500 feet and is entering a holding pattern before its final approach to London Heathrow Airport. Suddenly, the pilots saw through the window, “an object slightly to the right of the nose, at the same level and extremely close”. The report from the UK Airprox Board, the aerial investigation office, specifies that the device is “small, but had the distinctive shape of a drone. The object passed on the right side of the plane and above of his right wing.” And that the device circulates only 5 feet (1.50 m) above the wing of the Airbus A321 and only 30 feet (10 m) from the cockpit.
The UK Airprox Board, which assesses aviation incidents, classified this near miss as a category A incident : this means that there was a high risk of collision.
24 times above the legal limit
In the UK, the legal maximum altitude for flying a drone in the UK is only 400 feet (around 120 meters). However, when its trajectory crosses that of the plane, the small aircraft flies 24 times higher than the authorized limit.
“We take these matters extremely seriously and our pilots report incidents so that the authorities can investigate and take appropriate action,” a British Airways spokesperson said. The drone operator has not been apprehended and this incident raises many questions. The British authorities point out that in the event of endangering an aircraft, a person can be sentenced to imprisonment of up to five years.