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Terrifying mid-air near miss caught on camera

The moment the quick reactions of a pilot averted a near miss with a microlight has been caught on camera.

In the video taken at 13000 ft, a woman can be heard saying ‘oh look at that’ as the microlight appears, barely visible out the right window.

Moments later the microlight gets closer and hurtles towards the light aircraft. The pilot of the light aircraft can be heard yelling ‘holy s***’ as he quickly dips the place to avoid disaster.

A close call between a light aircraft and a microlight. Photo: Supplied.
A close call between a light aircraft and a microlight. Photo: Supplied.

The UK Airprox Board, which investigates near misses, declared it Category A - the highest level of risk short of an actual collision, the Mirror reported.

Its report said: “The PA28 pilot was required to give way to the microlight, but equally that one cannot give way to that which one does not see.

“The cockpit video showed that the microlight, initially below the PA28, contrasted poorly with the background terrain, further adding to difficulty in visual acquisition.

“In the event, it was the PA28 passenger who first saw the approaching micro light and alerted the PA28 pilot to its presence, who was then able to take avoiding action.

“Ultimately, the PA28 pilot saw the microlight at a very late stage and, although he took avoiding action, was only able to increase separation marginally.

“It appeared from the PA28 cockpit video that the microlight pilot did not take avoiding action, or took action after passing out of the camera field of view and hence so late as to be ineffective in increasing separation.”

The official report found neither pilot was to blame for the incident, which happened in May of this year.

Morning news break – September 5