Drone '˜15ft from passenger plane' at Edinburgh Airport

A passenger plane on its way to Edinburgh Airport missed a collision due to '˜luck' a report claims.

The incident happened on May 19.

A report published this week found that a Saab 340 plane was unable to take any action to avoid the drone, which missed by 15ft after flying parallel to the aircraft’s flight deck.

In its report, the UK Airprox Board published after the incident on May 19 said: “The pilot’s overall account of the incident and his inability to avoid the object portrayed a situation where providence had played a major part in the incident and a definite risk of collision had existed.

“It was so close and happened so fast that avoiding action was not possible. The pilot opined that it was only through luck that they did not hit the drone.”

The incident happened around 12 miles south of Edinburgh Airport and endangered a number of aircraft and those on board.

In the last nine months there have been at least four reports of drones narrowly missing planes in Scotland.

The latest study found that drones could smash through plane windscreens, with pilots union Balpa saying that even low-speed collisions could be “catastrophic”.