An easyJet aircraft got here inside 10 ft of a drone and pilots “thought they heard a thud”, an official report has discovered.
The Airbus A320 was flying from Gatwick to the Greek island of Rhodes, when at about 16,000 ft within the London air visitors management space, pilots stated an “unidentified flying object” was “spotted coming towards them”, the UK Airprox Board stated.
A drone is restricted to 400 ft.
The object was described as black and spherical in form. It was additionally massive sufficient to allow the pilots to “make out details of a framed structure at its base”.
The pilots on board the 5 July flight reported a “very close encounter with a drone” and stated it had gone “directly underneath the aircraft”.
Another report, from National Air Traffic Services, quoted what had been relayed from the flight deck.
One pilot stated: “We very nearly just hit a drone. We’re talking less than 10 feet.”
They added: “We don’t think we’ve hit it. There was a bit of a thud, we’ll come back to you.”
Once the aircraft had reached its vacation spot, the captain supplied an additional replace, saying: “I can verify we didn’t hit the drone.
“It passed very close underneath the aircraft, but the thud the first officer heard was likely from the cabin.
“I accomplished a stroll round and confirmed no injury and no upkeep motion was required.”
Airprox rated the report as Category A, meaning there was a risk of a collision.
It said: “In the board’s opinion the reported altitude and/or description of the article have been enough to point that it might have been a drone.”
It added that the pilot’s account showed a “particular danger of collision had existed”.
TCAS – the Traffic Collision Avoidance System – did not detect anything.
The airline said in a statement: “We are conscious of the report and can at all times absolutely help any investigation.
“Safety is always easyJet’s highest priority and our flight crew acted in accordance with our standard operating procedures to ensure the safety of the flight was not compromised.”
Source: information.sky.com”