A passenger plane narrowly avoided a collision with an unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) while flying over the tallest skyscraper in central London, according to a recent report.
The A320 plane was approaching London's Heathrow Airport in July this year, flying at an altitude of 1.525 meters above the Shard skyscraper, when the pilot noticed a drone, about 50 centimeters long, near the right window of the cockpit.
A report by the UK Airprox (Airprox) board, published last week, concluded that "luck played a large part" in avoiding the accident.
The avoidable crash underscored the concerns of many aviation experts over the growing popularity of unmanned aerial vehicles.
Under British regulations, the person piloting the aircraft must be in sight at all times, so the flight of such a device that nearly hit the plane was illegal.
The report added that there had been several similar incidents involving drones, including one that nearly hit a plane at Liverpool Airport in the same month.
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