A PASSENGER plane was just 75ft from colliding with an unmanned drone "buzzing" over the Essex skies.
The turbo-prop plane, which can hold up to 74 people, was coming into land at 1,500ft into Southend Airport when the pilot spotted the remote-controlled quadcopter "very close" to the right wing-tip.
The pilot told the control tower at Southend Airport he saw a black and red "remote-control helicopter with a very small engine" that was "too close" to the ATR72 twin-engine airliner.
An investigation launched by the UK Airprox Board into the incident that is believed to be the first ever near-miss between a passenger plane and a drone in the UK.
UK Airprox Board report, said: "The board were content that the AT72 pilot had clearly seen the quadcopter but, unfortunately, there was too little information available to make a meaningful analysis of the occurrence or to accurately assess the risk.
"Members were disappointed that someone would fly a quadcopter so high on the extended approach path to an airport, and that no had come forward to help with the analysis.
"It was unanimously agreed by the board that the cause of the Airprox was that the quadcopter was flown close enough to the ATR72 to cause its pilot concern; because there was too little information to assess the degree of risk accurately, it was graded as D."
A "D" rating means the risk of the collision was still high.
Cheap drones can cost as little as £225 and security experts warn terrorists could use them to launch attacks.
British pilots want stricter rules on who flies unmanned drones that could also be used to carry cargo over UK airspace.
