A drone came within 5 meters (16 feet) of a potentially catastrophic collision with an Air France jet landing at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport in the closest encounter yet between one of the remotely operated devices and a civil airliner.
The Airbus Group SE A320, which can carry 150 people, was arriving from Barcelona on Feb. 19 at a height of 1,600 meters when the pilot saw the drone on the plane’s left-hand side. He quickly disconnected the autopilot and took avoiding action, according to the BEA, the French air-accident investigator.
