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Quadcopter ‘Deliberately Flown at Passenger Airliner’

An airliner came within just 80ft of colliding with a quadcopter  after it was ‘deliberately flown’ at the passenger plane as it flew over Essex, an official report reveals.

The 74-seater aeroplane was travelling over Southend when the pilot spotted the remote-controlled quadcopter ‘very close’ to the right wing-tip.

An investigation launched into the incident recorded the risk of collision as ‘high’, in what is believed to be the first ever near-miss between a passenger plane and a drone in the UK.

This diagram, which was provided for the UK Airprox Board’s investigation, shows the passenger plane (ATR72) on its flight path (blue line) over Southend in Essex and the estimated closest point of approach (CPA)

The UK Airprox Board report into the incident, which emerged this week, revealed how the ATR72 twin-engine turboprop airliner was travelling at 1,500ft as it came in to land at Southend Airport when the pilot noticed the drone.

The report revealed how the pilot informed the control tower at Southend Airport over the sighting and told the operator how the object was ‘too close’ to the plane.

He told the tower that he thought he had seen a ‘remote-control helicopter with a very small engine’ before confirming it was a black and red quadcopter.

The tower responded by informing the pilot there had been ‘a couple’ of quadcopters reported in the area at the time of the incident in May.

The co-pilot told the UK Airprox Board investigation that his impression was that the quadcopter had been flown deliberately close to the plane.

The report revealed that it had not been possible to trace the drone nor its operators since the incident and concluded that it was disappointing that no one had come forward to take responsibility of the quadcopter.

The co-pilot of the airliner told the UK Airprox Board investigation how he believed the remote-controlled quadcopter had been flown at the plane ‘deliberately’ during the incident in Southend, Essex.

TRANSCRIPT REVEALS PILOT REPORTING DRONE NEAR-MISS TO OPERATOR

The following transcript, as revealed in the UK Airprox Board report, reveals the conversation between the airliner’s pilot (AT72) and the control tower at Southend Airport (ATC) during the incident. 

AT72: ’…for information when we were on the glide just about to intercept the glide er seen on the right side kind of er you know remote control helicopter er very small engine flying on the right side same altitude’

ATC: ’That’s understood roughly what range when you saw that was it’

AT72: ’Just before we intercept the glide was black and red’

ATC: ’That’s understood er I’ll make a note of that’

AT72: ’Was not sure it was you know a helicopter it looks like it’s a brand new thing that are flying around now on remote control’

ATC: ’Oh a quadcopter type thing maybe’

AT72: ’Say again sorry’

ATC: ’Perhaps something like a quadcopter er we’ve had a couple of those around here er been reported’

AT72: ’Yes exactly that’

ATC: ’Understood’

ATC: ’(AT72)c/s do you know roughly how far away the erm model was from you’

AT72: ’er from my point of view it was too close’

ATC: ’Understood’

Concluding its investigation, the UK Airprox Board said: ‘The board were content that the AT72 pilot had clearly seen the quadcopter but, unfortunately, there was too little information available to make a meaningful analysis of the occurrence or to accurately assess the risk.

‘Members were disappointed that someone would fly a quadcopter so high on the extended approach path to an airport, and that no had come forward to help with the analysis.

‘It was unanimously agreed by the Board that the cause of the Airprox was that the quadcopter was flown close enough to the ATR72 to cause its pilot concern; because there was too little information to assess the degree of risk accurately, it was graded as D.’

Remote-controlled drones can be bought for as little as £225 in the UK and security fears are increasing over the risk they pose to other aircraft.

British pilots are demanding better protection for the public against the risks of drones and the airline pilots’ association Balpa is set to call for tougher rules for the use of larger remote aircraft.

Balpa, which will give evidence before a House of Lords committee tomorrow, wants drones – officially known as Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) – which share airspace with passenger and freight airliners, to meet the same safety standards as piloted aircraft.

The near-miss occurred as the passenger plane came in to land at Southend Airport in Essex (pictured)

This includes only being flown by operators with pilot-equivalent training and being subject to tougher security measures at ground level.

Balpa believes a full public consultation must be carried out before the Government sets rules on how larger commercial RPAS, for example carrying cargo, will operate over villages, towns and cities in Britain.

General secretary Jim McAuslan said: ‘The UK should become a ‘safe drone zone’ so we can make the most of the major business and leisure opportunities offered by remotely piloted aircraft, while protecting passengers, pilots and residents.

‘The technology is developing quickly and we could see remote aircraft the same size as a Boeing 737 being operated commercially in our skies within 10 years.

‘Large unmanned aircraft, when they come, should be as safe as manned aircraft and the British public should be fully consulted before companies fly large, remotely-piloted aircraft over their homes alongside passenger planes.’