Investigators reveal that ‘safety was not assured’

A PASSENGER plane came within 32ft of disaster over Scotland after a near miss with a drone, a report has revealed.

The incident happened on July 7 about 14 nautical miles east of Edinburgh.

The pilot of the short haul ATR72 turbo prop said he was on the base leg of an approach to Edinburgh airport when the first officer saw a drone ahead of them. It was initially below them but “appeared to be climbing”.

It passed down the left side of the aircraft and slightly above. The gap was put at 200ft vertically but less than 33ft horizontally.

The pilot said the risk of collision was “medium”.

The UK Airprox Board, who investigate near misses, rated the incident as category B – their second highest rating. They said “safety had not been assured”, adding that the drone was being flown above the visual line of sight limit “such that it was endangering other aircraft at that location”.

Last year, a drone came within three seconds of hitting a passenger plane over Glasgow, an official report revealed.