BA flight with 180 passengers on board misses 250mph crash with drone

A British Airways plane with 180 passengers on board came a few feet away from colliding with a drone over Kent, according to a report.

The Airbus A321 from Athens, Greece, to London Heathrow was flying at a speed of more than 250mph and at a height of 9,600ft at the time.

The incident is thought to be one of the closest ever near misses between a BA jet and an illegally-flown drone.

It happened just before 4.30pm on January 3 as the airplane was heading into a holding stack around six miles south of Sevenoaks while waiting its turn to join the final flight path into Heathrow Airport.

The drone was being flown at 24 times the usual maximum legal height for the devices which is just 400ft.

It is believed that the operator of the drone was never found, but they they could have been jailed for up to five years for endangering an aircraft, the Daily Mail reported.

According to the report by the UK Airprox Board, pilots described the drone as being around 5ft over their wing and just 30ft from their cockpit.

The report rated the incident as a Category A where there was a serious risk of a collision.

It said about the drone: ‘It was small, but had the distinctive shape of a drone. The object passed down the right-hand side of the aircraft and over their right wing.

‘Details were passed immediately to London ATC (air traffic control) who informed the pilot of the aircraft behind them.’

The BA pilot rated the risk of collision as high, saying the object had ‘shot down our right hand side’ and describing it as ‘extremely close’.

A BA spokesperson said: ‘We take such matters extremely seriously and our pilots report incidents so that the authorities can investigate and take appropriate action.’

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