Drone intentionally causes near-miss with Boeing 757: report

A drone almost caused a deadly mid-air crash as it flew within feet of a packed holiday jet. The captain of the Boeing 757 saw it, as the plane took off from Manchester Airport.

The jet was at 1,500 ft during a ''critical phase of flight'', and according to officials there was a high risk of a potentially fatal collision.

According to experts, the object was ''flown into conflict'' intentionally as it was in an area regularly used by pilots taking off.

The captain immediately alerted airport staff, who rushed to identify the owner of the mystery object. According to a safety report, the drone had a ''high risk'' of causing a potentially fatal collision.

The incident which happened on 16 March only a month before a suspected drone hit a British Airways plane over Heathrow (London Police investigate as suspected drone hits British Airways flight ), was entered in the official near-miss report with air safety authority the UK Airprox Board. http://www.domain-b.com/aero/airlines/20160418_police.html

The report read: ''The pilot was unsure as to whether he had seen two large balloons, connected together, or a drone.

''The cabin crew member seated immediately behind the pilot confirmed that she had also seen something and, when asked, independently stated that it looked like a drone."

In another incident of the kind, a plane was put at "definite risk of collision" when it passed within 100 feet of a drone.

The Boeing 737 had descended to an altitude of 800 feet when the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was spotted by the pilot.

A report by the UK Airprox Board, which investigates incidents of the kind within UK airspace featured the details of the close call.

It was among six near-misses investigated by the panel, with others occurring at Heathrow, Manchester and Newcastle airports.

The Glasgow incident occurred at around 3.50 pm on Sunday, 6 March as the plane flew over over Clydebank, around two-and-a-half miles from the airport.