A British Airways Boeing 777 climbing out of Heathrow on June 24 reported a shiny silver object passing no more than 50 feet (15 meters) above its right wing, and The Independent reported it on October 26 as a drone “the size of four toasters.” The UK Airprox Board, which reviewed the report at its September 16 meeting, did not call it a drone. It filed the object as unknown.
The crew saw it at 5,800 feet (1,768 meters), about 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) northeast of Guildford, on a departure to New York. NATS, the UK air traffic service, found no radar contact for it. Of the 13 drone and unknown-object reports the Board assessed that month, this is the only one it rated Category A, its highest collision-risk grade.
Airprox Board Rates the BA Encounter Category A Without Identifying the Object
The Board’s September 2026 report lists Airprox 2026127, the BA departure, as a B777 against an “Unk Obj” and grades it Category A. On the object itself, the Board said it was “unable to determine the nature of the unknown object.”
That grade means the Board found providence played a major part or a definite collision risk existed. The crew reported 50 feet of vertical separation and gave no horizontal distance.
Eight of the 13 reports in the same batch got the Board’s standard drone finding, that the description was enough to indicate the object “could have been a drone,” but this one did not.
The pilot’s written report calls the object “likely a mid-size drone” that passed “in the opposite direction, very fast.” The fuller description came over the radio. The London controller’s account says the crew described it as probably silver, metallic and reflective, and gave the four-toasters size when the controller asked how big it was. The report logs the sighting at 12:08 UTC, which was 1:08 p.m. in London.
British Airways told The Independent the crew did not need to take any action to avoid the object and the flight reached New York as planned. Its statement opened with “We take matters such as these extremely seriously,” nearly word for word what the airline was reported as saying after a 2023 Mumbai flight’s drone report.
The Same Airprox Batch Shows Crews Confusing Foil Balloons and Drones
Silver, metallic and reflective also describes a foil party balloon, and two other crews in the September batch raised that possibility. A Cessna 172 pilot near Lee Valley Reservoir first took a drone for “a metallic helium balloon.” An airliner crew near Rochdale could not rule one out.
The Board gave the Cessna sighting its drone finding because that pilot got close enough to see rotors and lights. It filed the Rochdale object as unknown, the verdict it also gave the BA sighting.
The crew’s “very fast” does not settle it either way, because a hovering drone and a drifting balloon would both pass a climbing airliner at close to the airliner’s own speed. The Independent’s headline has the drone “hovering” over the plane, while its own story, like the crew’s report, describes an object passing in the opposite direction.
In 2021 an Envoy Air crew leaving Chicago O’Hare told controllers “I believe we hit a drone,” and the FAA later concluded it was a party balloon. In April 2023 a Finnair crew near Heathrow reported a round, purple and turquoise object as a drone passing under their A320 at 3,000 feet (914 meters), an identification DroneXL questioned at the time.
DroneXL’s Take
The Airprox Board did its job here: it wrote down what the crew saw, graded the risk on what they reported and declined to name something nobody identified. The crew called it a likely drone, and the coverage dropped the “likely” and put “drone” in the headline.
Drones do get flown where they have no business being. In the same batch an Airbus A319 crew 14 nautical miles (26 km) east of Heathrow described a dark grey four-rotor drone with black rotors at 3,750 feet (1,143 meters). That crew saw rotors, which is more than the BA crew reported, and my read is that a stray foil balloon explains every word of the BA crew’s description at least as well as a drone does. DroneXL raised similar doubts about a British Airways 787 report over Windsor in 2023. Until someone produces better evidence than a silver, reflective object moving very fast at 5,800 feet, I’d call it what the Board called it: an unknown object.
Sources: UK Airprox Board, Monthly Meeting September 2026, The Independent.
DroneXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. All reporting and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo. Read our editorial standards.
