UKAB ‘UNKNOWN OBJECT’ LOG 2017-2020

14 July 2017: Gatwick Airport At 7.20pm the pilot of an Airbus A319 was holding at 7,000ft (2,100m) when the First Officer, in the right-hand seat, noticed an object close to the aircraft. He commented on the object to the captain, who also saw it. Both believed the object was not close enough to hit the aircraft and that they were on a trajectory to miss it. It was black and shiny/metallic in colour and appeared to be a square/ rectangular cube. It appeared to be maintaining altitude and took around seven seconds to pass, making them believe it was hovering. The crew believed this was not a weather balloon, but because they couldn’t make out any propellers on the side of the object, they weren’t sure whether it was a drone. They alerted Gatwick control, who passed the information on to the aircraft behind; however, they did not report seeing it.

1 Feb 2018: Manchester Airport At 6.10pm an Airbus A321 pilot was descending from 10,000ft (3,000m) when his eye was caught by a greyish thin-profiled ‘something’ which passed by very close at the same level down the left-hand side at great speed. His initial reaction was that he had seen an internal reflection in his glasses or the windshield, but the First Officer and another person on the flight deck also saw it. None of them had a clear view because it was in the landing-light beam for a split second. Their description resembles another well-known ‘unexplained’ airprox report made by a Boeing 737 crew, carrying 60 passengers from Milan to Manchester airport, on 6 January 1995. They described a glowing wedge-shaped object, lit up like a Christmas tree, that passed down the side of the aircraft as they descended at 4,000ft (1,200m) on their approach to the runway.

5 May 2018: Gatwick Airport

A B757 airliner pilot was approaching Gatwick in busy airspace at 12.45pm when the First Officer said: “What’s that?” The Captain looked out and saw a fairly large, irregular shaped, dark black object pass down the left side at the same level, within 200ft (60m) of the aircraft, heading in an easterly direction. No avoiding action was needed but the incident was reported to Gatwick control.

5 July 2018: Birmingham Airport

A King Air BE90 pilot reported he was cruising at 16,000ft (4,900m), about 10 nautical miles north of Birmingham, at 9.30am when he saw a rectangular or elliptical object pass 500-1000ft (150-300m) below the aircraft. He estimated it to be 50-100cm (20-40in) long, although he only saw it for about two seconds before it passed underneath the prop-driven aircraft. It was either hovering or travelling in the opposite direction, but there was no time to take any avoiding action. 30 Dec 2018: Glasgow Airport At 6.45pm the pilot of an Embraer 175 passenger plane approaching the runway saw “an object pass between three and 10ft [0.9-3m] from the aircraft at the same level”. The pilot could not tell what the object was, but “it was lit up in various places and was more horizontally long than it was vertically”. The board was unable to identify the object but decided there was a definite risk of collision and “providence had played a major part in the incident”.

15 Jan 2019: RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire

An RAF Typhoon pilot was leading a pair of fighters from Coningsby to an exercise in the North Sea at 11.40am. After receiving clearance to climb to 30,000ft (9,000m) from 15,000ft (4,500m), he noticed an object at 11 o’clock about one nautical mile away, slightly higher and maintaining a constant altitude. The radar and data link showed no traffic conflictions. The object reflected sunlight and appeared to have a linear form. The object passed down the left-hand side of the Typhoon. The wingman independently saw the same object as it passed over the leader’s aircraft. He maintained the formation at 15,000ft until they were clear of the object. Nothing unusual was noticed on the ground radar picture.

30 Mar 2019: London

A B787 airliner pilot reported that a red coloured object passed down the right-hand side of the aircraft shortly after 2pm at 6,000ft (1,800m). It was impossible to identify the object, although it was large enough to cause concern.

28 April 2019: Gatwick Airport An Airbus A319 was climbing out from the airport at 12.40pm when the pilot saw an object a few seconds after breaking through cloud at 17,000ft (5,200m). “It passed below them from the centre of the aircraft and under the right-hand wing” and was clearly contrasted against the clouds. The small object “appeared dark green in colour with a white light on top” and may have been hovering. UKAB placed this in the highest risk category.

5 May 2019: Gatwick Airport An Airbus A320 pilot reported that on departure from Gatwick, while climbing at 2pm, a totally white object resembling a shoebox-sized cube with a ball on top passed down the left-hand side of the aircraft, slightly above and within 160ft (50m) at 6,000ft (1,800m). The object appeared to be in level flight.

1 Sept 2020: Leeds Airport

A B737 crew reported that when approaching the runway at 10.13pm at 1,800ft (550m) both pilot and First Officer “suddenly saw a bright light and an object which appeared to be moving toward the aircraft, almost head on, slightly up and to the left.” The object appeared without warning and gave them no time to act. The crew informed Air Traffic Control on landing who told them the West Yorkshire police helicopter had earlier seen “lanterns” in the area, but neither pilot believed that was what they saw. The UKAB board “were unable to determine the nature of the unknown object” but concluded that “a definite high risk of collision had existed”.

Source: UKAB airprox log: https://www.airproxboard.org. uk/Reports-and-analysis/Airproxreports-2021/