Football-sized drone flown close to passenger jet over London

A drone the size of a football was flown as close as 20 metres from a passenger jet.

The Airbus A320's first officer shouted "look!" as the drone passed next to the right wing at around 11,000ft above south-east London, according to an official report.

The UK Airprox Board said a minority of drone operators were "flagrantly disregarding regulation and common sense" in pursuit of "ever more spectacular video footage".

The incident involving the A320 was assessed as having the most serious degree of risk. It was at the same altitude and passed just 20 to 40 metres from the aircraft.

Air traffic control was immediately alerted to the near miss which happened in August when the airliner was in a holding pattern over Biggin Hill used for flights approaching Heathrow Airport.

Details were passed to the Metropolitan Police but the drone operator could not be traced.