London’s Close Encounter at 9,000 Feet

On May 19, 2025, a British Airways A320 lifted out of Heathrow on a routine climb. The sky was clear, the jet was steady, and central London slid quietly below. Then something decidedly non-routine appeared.

The pilots reported a bright triangular object, not off in the distance but close enough that it filled part of their windscreen. Air traffic control confirmed they saw something too, and radar picked up a mystery blip just 300 metres in front of the aircraft. That is the sort of separation you expect from a disciplined queue at Greggs, not a commercial jet travelling at several hundred knots.

The UK Airprox Board did not hold back. In their official report they called it a “definite risk of collision”. Pilots train for bird strikes, wake turbulence and the occasional rogue weather balloon. They do not train for a luminous triangle playing chicken over Westminster.

Now here is where it gets interesting. Drones are capped at 400 feet in the UK. This incident happened at 9,000 feet. Balloons do not usually fly in formation with radar signatures. No other aircraft were nearby. And the operator of this mystery triangle? Unknown. So technically, yes, this qualifies as a UFO. Not the little green men kind necessarily, but certainly the “we have no idea what that was and it nearly killed us” variety.

Sceptics will point out it could have been an unusually reckless drone pilot. To which one must reply: a drone that can casually hang out at nine thousand feet, over central London airspace, in direct radar sight? If true, then someone has invented a consumer quadcopter that breaks not only civil aviation law but also the laws of battery chemistry.

The timing is awkward. The UK is pouring money into anti-drone systems to protect airports after past shutdowns at Gatwick. Yet here is a glowing triangle flying rings around Heathrow without so much as a police knock on the door of the owner. Either the defences need a rethink, or the explanation sits somewhere beyond model aircraft enthusiast gone rogue.

As for the pilots, they landed safely and filed their report. The passengers on board had no idea they had skimmed past a piece of unexplained aerial hardware. Which is probably just as well. If you are sipping your tea on climb-out and notice your pilot swerving to avoid a giant glowing Dorito, the rest of the flight is unlikely to be relaxing.

So what was it? A physics-defying drone, a top-secret test vehicle, or a visitor from the school of “you wouldn’t believe me if I told you”? Nobody knows. What is certain is that London had a near-miss with something that should not have been there. And in aviation, “should not have been there” is not a phrase that inspires confidence.