The UK Airprox Board, a body responsible for the investigation of near-miss incidents, has published a report of an occurrence in March that apparently involved a drone flying "extremely close" to a Boeing 757.
While taking off from Manchester airport at an altitude of about 1500ft, the captain of the aircraft saw "an unknown object" about 50ft above and 100ft to the left of the plane. The captain, who assessed the collision risk as high, "expressed his surprise" and returned to working through the takeoff checklist and handling radio communications.
According to the report, the pilot "was unsure as to whether he had seen two large balloons, connected together, or a drone." Another crew member later said that she saw something that "looked like a drone."
The report stated that the Airprox Board has "ultimately agreed that it was more likely a drone than balloons," taking into account that no meteorological balloon launches were reported in the area.
In addition to the incident near Manchester, the board reported (PDF) another near-miss occurrence in Glasgow, where a drone was spotted 100ft below a Boeing 737 during landing. Although the pilot assessed the risk of collision as low, the board gave the occurrence the highest risk degree of "A."
The report came three months after an unknown object was reported to hit a British Airways jet landing at Heathrow International Airport. Two months later, British transport minister Robert Goodwill said in a statement that the object might have been a plastic bag and not a drone at all.
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