RAF aircraft: Royal Air Force Voyager jet 'within 100ft' of smashing into drone flying five times higher than legal altitude limit

The close call happened on the afternoon of June 19 this year as the Union flag colour-themed Voyager plane was coming in to land at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, the Daily Mail reports. The paper says that the drone was being flown at a height more than five times the usual 400ft legal altitude limit for the devices.

A report by the UK Airprox Board which assesses near misses in UK airspace said the drone was spotted “heading in the opposite direction” when the plane was on its final approach to it base and over Fairford Park around seven miles from Brize Norton’s runway. The report said: ‘The drone was close enough for the crew to see LED lights. The crew immediately made a report to ATC (air traffic control) over the radio and the approach and landing was completed without further incident.

The crew estimated the drone passed 100ft directly above the Voyager and rated the risk of collision as “high”. The report added: ‘The Brize Norton ATC Supervisor reports that the approach controller informed them of the incident as it happened.

“They rang Fairford to see if they had approved a drone, as it was over their ATZ, but they confirmed that they had no knowledge of any drone activity. 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”.

An RAF spokesperson told the Daily Mail: “The RAF regularly conducts essential flying training across the whole of the UK. Drones operating in the vicinity of our aircraft can offer a significant threat to their safety and can be extremely challenging for our aircrew to spot and take avoiding action. We continue to encourage users to fly their assets responsibly and legally in accordance with CAA regulations.”

Most drones have software limiting the height that they can be flown, but updates can be illicitly purchased over the internet to cancel it out. If they are caught and convicted of endangering an aircraft, they risk getting a maximum prison sentence of five years.

It is believed that the operator of the drone which threatened the VIP plane was never traced, the Daily Mail reports. The he Voyager aircraft was converted to its VIP role in 2016. Boris Johnson ordered its military grey colour scheme to be replaced with a patriotic red, white, and blue livery at a cost of £900,000 when he was prime minister in 2020.

When the aircraft isn’t carrying VIPs, it continues to operate like other RAF Voyager aircraft as an air-to-air refuelling tanker. Flight tracker records suggest the plane was not carrying any Royals or government ministers, and was returning from a routine mission when the near miss with the drone happened.