Drones - More than a nuisance - UAS Vision

Near Miss 2,000ft Above UK Houses of Parliament

A drone came within a whisker of crashing into an airliner just 2,000ft above the Houses of Parliament, according to a new report. The unmanned craft was just 20m from the short haul jet, with up to 76 passengers aboard, as it passed down the left hand side.

There was no time for the pilot to take action and only good luck prevented a disaster in the skies over central London.

The report into the incident recorded it as a Category A – the highest risk short of an actual collision. The scare was only one of a record seven near-misses involving drones and aircraft which have been investigated by the UK Airprox Board.

The Houses of Parliament were beneath an Embraer 170 which was coming in to land at London City airport just after noon on September 13, when the plane appeared to be buzzed by the drone. It was a Saturday, so Parliament was not sitting.

The crew, flying at 160 knots – about 184 mph – were on the lookout for a helicopter which was also in the area, then they looked up to see the drone dead ahead.

The findings, which do not identify the owner of the plane, said: “The E170 pilot reports that as they were flying over the Thames during an approach to London City, they were advised of helicopter traffic below.

“On sighting this traffic visually, the crew then looked forward and saw a balloon-like object about half a nautical mile away. This passed down the left-hand side of the aircraft.

“It was initially reported to air traffic control as a balloon, but as it passed it became apparent that it was a silver drone with a ‘balloon-like’ centre and 4 small rotors on each corner. The pilot reported a high cockpit workload at the time.”

Four other drone near misses were classed as Category A incidents the Board’s just-published January report:

* On August 11, a Chinook helicopter came within 75ft as it approached RAF Odiham in Hampshire.

* On August 27, a drone hovered 50ft from the nose of a Dornier commuter aircraft approaching Manchester before disappearing over its right wing.

* On September 13, a Boeing 737 missed a drone by there or four metres moments after taking off from Stansted.

* On September 22, a drone just missed the right wing tip of a Boeing 777 as it left Heathrow.

One drone was said by a pilot to be a serious risk to his plane and others as it came within 50m of an Airbus A319 on hold over Heathrow on 25 September – an incident classed as Category B.

A less serious Category D incident over Ockham, in Surrey, was officially designated ‘UFO’ but the UKAB thought it could have been a drone.

Research has shown that a drone strike would be more catastrophic than a bird strike – known to cause fatal crashes – as the UAV is denser and more rigid, and able to wreck engines, rotors or easily shatter windscreens.