drone comes just 10ft from crashing into passenger jet near heathrow airport

The incident happened in May and is one of the closest near-misses between a drone and a plane in recent months (Picture: Getty)

Disaster was a few feet away when a 10ft drone came close to crashing into a passenger jet,which had just departed from London’s Heathrow Airport.

The Airbus A320 – used by major airlines like British Airways,Lufthansa and Wizz Air – was at 9,000ft when the near-miss occurred.

A report into the incident by investigation bod UK Airpox Board stressed that ‘a definite risk of collision had existed’.

The drone appeared not long after the airplane had take off,covering its windscreen and leaving the pilots without a clear view.

It said: ‘Both the Captain and First Officer saw a bright white object pass overhead from the opposite direction.

‘It appeared to be approximately two-three metres in size at the very least.’ 

The report added that the aircraft was spotted on the radar by air traffic controllers,the Sun reported.

The name of the airline operating the plane or destination was not shared in the report,but the incident is said to have happened in May.

Another drone was seen near London’s City Airport around the same time.

The report added: ‘The First Officer observed that the object was triangular in shape.

‘The Captain only saw the object for a second or two in peripheral vision so could not reliably comment on the shape. No markings were identified.’

The pilot stated that the object ‘went over us,probably within about 10 metres.’

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