Moments from terror: British Airways plane carrying up to 216 passengers at 3,000ft missed illegal drone by just 60ft while flying over Windsor at 270mph

• It happened after a plane carrying up to 216 passengers took off from Heathrow

A British Airways plane flying over Windsor at 270mph missed an illegal drone by around 60ft, a report has revealed. 

The near miss happened soon after the B787 Dreamliner carrying up to 216 passengers took off from Heathrow on a flight to Montreal, Canada.

The pilot spotted the drone on the jet’s flightpath at a height of 3,000ft just after 8pm on July 25, according to the report by the UK Airprox Board.

The report said: ‘It was apparent that whilst it was very close, the drone would pass below and to their left. The drone was white, with multiple props but no lights.’

The plane is said to have passed around 20ft above the drone and 60ft away horizontally, leading the pilot to describe the risk of a collision as high.

The report rated it as a Category A incident where there was a serious risk of a collision.

The near miss happened soon after the B787 Dreamliner carrying up to 216 passengers took off from Heathrow on a flight to Montreal, Canada

Air traffic controllers confirmed the pilot had radioed in that ‘they had passed a drone very close on the left-hand side, when passing 3000ft’.

The information was passed to the Heathrow control tower ‘in order that subsequent departures could be made aware of the sighting’.

UKAB, which assesses near misses in UK airspace, concluded: ‘In the Board’s opinion the reported altitude and/or description of the object were sufficient to indicate that it could have been a drone.

‘The Board considered that the pilot’s overall account of the incident portrayed a situation where providence had played a major part in the incident and/or a definite risk of collision had existed.’

The height at which the drone was being flown was more than seven times the usual maximum legal height for the devices of 400ft.

Air traffic controllers confirmed the pilot had radioed in that ‘they had passed a drone very close on the left-hand side, when passing 3000ft’

Most drones are fitted with software limiting their maximum height, but it can be over-ridden by patches bought on the internet.

It is believed that the drone was being flown by someone trying to get dramatic video footage of an airliner in flight.

Aviation experts have long warned of the risk of drones damaging cockpit windows or jet engines with potential catastrophic results.

The operator of the drone in the incident could have been jailed for up to five years for endangering an aircraft if caught, but it is believed they were never traced.

A British Airways spokesperson said: ‘We take such matters extremely seriously and our pilots report incidents so that the authorities can investigate and take appropriate action.’

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