An authorities helicopter reported a near miss out on with a drone that remained in fact a United States jet fighter, a report stated.
The helicopter had been sent out to the area around RAF Lakenheath, in Suffolk, last November following reports of unmanned aerial vehicles in the area.The UK Airprox Board, which examines near misses out on, concluded the pilot had actually misidentified red flashing lights coming from an F-15 Eagle.The National Police Air Service (NPAS), which operated the helicopter, said there had been no risk of collision.The helicopter crew spotted the lights as they went into Lakenheaths airspace and after that headed towards Bury St Edmunds.Once they started heading in a westerly direction among the drones appeared to converge with them and fly above and in front of them, the report said.At one point the things appeared to overtake the helicopter.
The pilot assessed the risk of crash as medium.The 2 airplane at one point came within 1,900 feet (579 m) of each other.F-15 Eagle United States Air ForceInvestigators highlighted how the team on board the helicopter had actually not been told by RAF Lakenheath of the F-15s presence.The fighter pilot knew where the helicopter was butit might have been especially beneficial for the situational awareness of the EC135 pilot if the Lakenheath Approach Controller had passed mutual traffic info to them.Source: BBC