AN aircraft almost collided with an "unknown object" shaped like a doughnut over the North East, an investigation has revealed.
Crew members aboard an RAF Atlas were out on a training exercise when they spotted the item with a hollow centre at high altitude.
It shot past the right side of the plane before passing the windows of the flight deck, just a few feet from the wing tip.
The crew, who had been flying over Currock Hill in Tyne and Wear at 1pm on November 16, described it as circular with a hollow centre, like a doughnut.
It was believed to be a kind of drone.
An investigation by the UK Airprox Board detailed how it was dark in colour and 2ft or 3ft in diameter.
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The probe determined that "providence had played a major part in the incident and/or a definite risk of collision had existed".
The board found that at points there had been a distance of less than 1ft between the four-engine aircraft and the object.
A report read: "The Atlas pilot reports they had just completed instrument approach training at Newcastle and were climbing out to route towards Humberside.
"After the last approach, they had been cleared to climb ahead to FL90.
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"During the climb, they received radar vectors from Newcastle ATC before being cleared on navigation to Humberside.
"During one of the radar vectors, in a left turn passing through about south at FL75, one of the crew members on the flight deck alerted the rest of the crew to a drone that was ahead and just to the right of the nose.
"Other crew members then saw the object as it passed quickly down the right-hand side.
"There was no time for the crew to react."
The "circular drone" was assessed to have passed level with the flight deck windows and "a few" feet from the wing tip.
"The incident was reported to Newcastle Air Traffic Control. It was noted that, had the aircraft not been in a turn at the time, there would have been a very high chance of collision with the drone," it concluded.
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