Plane in near miss with a drone near Manchester Airport

A plane taking off from Manchester Airport has nearly collided with a drone above the Sale Water Park flight path.

The drone was reportedly flying 50ft above the Boeing 757 plane as it was retracting the undercarriage and flaps after and starting to turn right after take off.

The shocked pilot suddenly saw the drone “approximately 50ft above the aircraft and 100 ft to the left,” according to a report from the UK  Airport Board, which investigates aircraft safety.

In the report the pilot has assessed the risk of collision as “High”. Two cabin crew were on the flight deck, and one of them, saw “what looked like a drone” extremely close to the plane at a critical phase of the flight.

The pilot reported the near miss to Manchester Tower and said they were at 1,500 feet when the drone suddenly appeared.

The incident happened on March 5, but the report was only released today after being investigated by UKAB.

They haven’t been able to find the drone, or it’s operator.

A spokesman for Manchester Airport told Sale Today:”Owners of drones are legally responsible for their safe flying , and the rules for flying drones are designed keep all airspace users safe.

”It is totally unacceptable to fly drones  close to airports and anyone flouting the rules can face severe penalties including imprisonment,

”We will always work with our industry partners to ensure that any violation of airspace is fully prosecuted.”

The UK Airprox Board’s primary objective is to enhance air safety in the UK, in particular in respect of lessons to be learned and applied from Airprox occurrences reported within UK airspace.

An Airprox is a situation in which, in the opinion of a pilot or air traffic services personnel, the distance between aircraft as well as their relative positions and speed have been such that the safety of the aircraft involved may have been compromised.

The British Airline Pilots Association has warned that the risk of collision between aircraft and drones is ‘unacceptably high’.