A PASSENGER plane encountered a dangerous near-miss with a drone on its final approach to land on the runway.
The DHC-8 aircraft was arriving at Aberdeen Airport shortly after 3pm on September 12 when the pilot spotted the device in front of them.
The drone could be seen crossing from right-to-let in front of the plane, which was around 2300 feet above the ground on its final descent.
The concerned crew alerted Air Traffic Control and all departures and arrivals at the airport were suspended.
An investigation into the incident was launched by the UK Airprox Board who found that the safety of passengers had been compromised during the incident.
The report states: “The Aberdeen controller reports that at 3.05pm they received a call … advising that the pilot had reported sighting a drone [on their final approach to the runway].
“Due to the positioning of the sighting, they elected to stop all departures and arrivals until further information could be obtained.
“The pilot continued their approach and landing.”
Departures were resumed around ten minutes later, with arrivals returning a further five minutes later.
The report adds: “In the following 30 minutes, no further sightings [of the drone] had been reported.
“Following the incident, further information became apparent that the crew of had seen the drone fly over their starboard wing, crossing right-to-left.
“The board considered that the pilot’s overall account of the incident portrayed a situation where safety had been much reduced below the norm to the extent that safety had not been assured.”
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