Dreamliner within 10ft of collision with drone

A HEATHROW-BOUND plane narrowly escaped a collision after a drone flew within 10 feet of one of its engines.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner was 3,200ft high over Clapham Common on June 25 when a “drone-like object” was seen to pass below the right wing, “endangering” the plane.

The UK Airprox Board (UAB) ruled that luck had “played a major part” in the plane missing the drone.

The UAB’s monthly reports show this most recent incident is the 11th time this year a plane to or from an airport in west London has been at “definite risk” of colliding with an illegally flown drone.

In its report on the incident, the UAB said: “The drone was being flown beyond VLOS (visual line of sight) limits and on an airfield approach path, such that it was endangering other aircraft at that altitude and position.

“The pilot’s overall account of the incident portrayed a situation where providence had played a major part in the incident and a definite risk of collision existed.”

The report does not reveal which airline the plane belonged to, or which airport it had come from.

In the same month, on June 17, a white drone with “four propellers and blinking filaments” came within 50ft of an A319 on its final approach to Heathrow Airport.

UK law states drones cannot be flown over 400ft high, more than 500 metres away from the operator or within one kilometre of any airport.

A “drone bill”, which hopes to regulate the purchase and use of drones weighing more than 5kg, will be debated in the House of Commons in February next year.

A drone almost hit a plane as the flight came in to land at Heathrow Airport

PHOTO: PA A ‘drone-like’ object like this was seen below the wing