130 lives at risk in plane’s near miss with drone

A DRONE put 130 lives at risk when it came close to hitting a passenger jet as it approached Gatwick, according to a report today.

The pilot of the Airbus A319 reported that the ‘very large’ craft passed directly over its right wing in the incident last July.

It was one of 92 near misses between aircraft and drones recorded last year, according to data from the UK Airprox Board.

The figures reveal such incidents have more than tripled in two years. There were 71 near misses with drones in 2016 and 29 in 2015.

Steve Landells, safety specialist at the pilots’ union Balpa, believes the true extent of the problem could be even worse as pilots might not always see drones from cockpits.

Twenty-eight near misses in the past year were classified as having the most serious risk of a collision.