On Sunday, a British regulatory agency revealed that the country faced its first near-collision between a passenger aircraft and a drone in May. The UK Airprox Board’s report, uncovered by the Daily Mail, determined that a quadcopter flew “within 80 feet” of an 74-seat ATR 72 aircraft and did so “deliberately.”
The incident happened over the county of Essex as the plane prepared to land at London Southend Airport. According to the report, the quadcopter came close to hitting the larger plane’s right-side wing at an altitude of roughly 1,500 feet. The report included a conversation between the ATR 72’s pilot and an air control tower, in which the tower confirmed the offending red-and-black craft was probably a quadcopter, as “we’ve had a couple of those around here” recently.
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