British Airways aircraft narrowly missed drones on final approach to London Heathrow

LONDON – A British Airways Airbus A321 flying into London’s Heathrow Airport averted a potentially catastrophic accident on July 28th. The aircraft was 800ft high and on final approach into LHR when the pilots spotted drones approximately 50ft above them.

The pilots were flying at 140 knots but were able to identify the two drones as a severe threat. Fortunately, the flight landed safely at the airport but nonetheless, it is an issue that sparked investigation from the UK Airprox Board (UKAB) which assesses such situations.

British Airways drone incident – Findings of the investigation

The subsequent investigations for the incident which occurred in July rated the illegal flying of drones as a Category A issue. The UKAB believed that the aircraft was under severe threat as the drones could have been sucked in by its engine and put the passengers at a serious risk.

The drone pilots were unidentified but could have faced imprisonment of up to five years. The British law prohibits flying of drones in a five-kilometre radius from all ends of airport runways, while the maximum permissible height for drone flights is restricted to just 400ft.

UKAB believes that the drone, which flew at an estimated 850ft as per the British Airways pilots, was flying to capture a footage of the landing airplane from an unconventional angle.

The incident was closed out with the investigatory board releasing the following conclusion,

“(The first officer) initially noticed two objects immediately in front of and higher than the aircraft and pointed them out to the Captain who also clearly perceived them. They were clearly identifiable as two identical drones in the shape of two ‘3’s flying in a lateral formation perfectly up the approach, about 50ft (max) above the aircraft. The black propellers on the objects were clearly identifiable by both pilots. Both pilots assessed a risk of impact. In the Board’s opinion the reported altitude and/or description of the object were sufficient to indicate that it could have been a drone. The Board considered that providence had played a major part in the incident and/or a definite risk of collision had existed.”

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