Drone pilot feared device would crash into helicopter over Kylesku bridge, official investigation reveals
A pilot flying a drone at Kylesku Bridge earlier this year feared it would crash into a helicopter that appeared overhead, it has emerged.
A report by the UK Airprox Board (UKAB) into whether the proximity of the drone posed a risk to the helicopter and its crew has just been published.
UKAB is an organisation that investigates and reports on near-misses - called Airprox - that occur in UK airspace.
The report found that while the drone pilot rated the risk of collision as “high”, the helicopter pilot was unaware of the drone and considered the risk to be negligible.
It reads: “The Board members (UKAB) were satisfied that there was sufficient separation between the aircraft and that there was no risk of collision.”
According to the report, the drone pilot was flying a DJI Phantom 4 drone for mapping purposes near Kylesku Bridge on Friday March 29.
The pilot had contacted the authorities the day before to inform them of the drone’s flight times, altitude and location so that military aircraft could be notified.
The drone was flying at an altitude of 70m at the south-west corner of the bridge when the remote pilot, who was on the north side of the bridge, heard the sound of a Eurocopter AS350.
The pilot immediately stopped the drone, ending the mapping exercise, and then reduced its altitude until it was hovering at the south-west corner at the start of the bridge on the south side.
The report states: “By this time the helicopter had approached from the north-east side of the bridge and was roughly 40-50m above the bridge to the left of the remote pilot and roughly 40-50m in front of them.”
At this point the helicopter veered off left and flew directly south-east over Kylesku.
Reads the report: “The remote pilot assessed the risk of collision as ‘high’.The AS250 pilot reports that they were unaware of the Airprox and assessed the risk of collision as ‘none’.”
The report concludes: “The Board agreed that the remote Phantom pilot had been concerned by the proximity of the AS350 as it had passed, but board members were satisfied that there was sufficient separation between the aircraft and there was no risk of collision.”
