Skip to content 
An unidentified flying object ‘the size of four toasters’ has passed a British Airways plane, aviation safety officials have revealed.
The New York City-bound flight had only recently departed London Heathrow Airport on June 24 when it encountered the UFO.
The pilot told air traffic control that a drone flew in the opposite direction about 50 feet above the plane’s right wing at 12:08 p.m.
The plane did not have to take any measures to avoid the drone – it flew right past the plane and the Boeing 777 arrived at its destination as planned.
The UK Airprox Board, which investigates aircraft proximity incidents, concluded there was “no risk” of a collision.
Sign up for all the latest stories
Start your day informed with Metro’s News updates Newsletter or receive Breaking news alert the moment it happens.
Although it has classified the object as A-risk, the highest category on the safety score of the International Civil Aviation Organization.
The warning system says A incidents could be “catastrophic”, causing “multiple deaths”.
‘Silver object moving very fast’ zips with plane, says report
The UK Aiprox board said in its monthly report on close encounters that the plane was 6,000ft in the air when the “shiny, silver object” passed by.
“They said it was moving very fast, probably silver in color, metallic and reflective,” the report said.
‘After an investigation into its size, the [pilot] reported to them that it was about the “size of four toasters”.’
The plane was flying over farmland about a mile southeast of the village of Burntcommon.
Nothing matched the height and description of the object, so investigators classified it as an ‘unk obj’, or unknown object.
“The board announced that the supply played a major role in the incident and/or a definite risk of a collision existed,” the report added.
BA said Subway: ‘We take such matters extremely seriously, and our pilots report these incidents so that the authorities can investigate them and take appropriate action.’
Have UFOs been seen in Britain?
Nearly 90 UFOs have been seen this year, according to the UFO Identified Database.
Witnesses have claimed to see “glowing orbs” zooming over Heathrow and “orbs with halos” behind trees in Peterborough, among other things.
The Ministry of Defense (MoD) once operated a dedicated UFO desk, but it was closed in 2009 due to budget cuts.
Nick Pope was among the officials tasked with probing reports of UFOs, now often called unidentified aerial phenomena, in the 1990s.
Speaking before his death, the Pope told Metro that many of the lights and balls were just stray paper lanterns.
“In the end, we found about 80% or so of these sightings were misidentifications, 15% had insufficient data and 5% were unknown,” he said.
‘This 5% doesn’t mean extraterrestrial, but as I always remind people, we haven’t ruled that out either. It means unknown, no more, no less.’
Contact our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
MORE: BA flight from Gatwick declares emergency and U-turns over ‘cracked window’
MORE: Passenger on BA flight that fell 27,000ft says cabin was ‘quiet’
MORE: British Airways flight returns to London after descending more than 27,000ft in minutes
