Two aircraft came so close to a collision that one pilot said they could almost identify the colour of the other pilot’s t-shirt, according to a report.
The UK Airprox Board said the near-miss took place on 21 June, as the pilot of a twin engine Diamond DA42 Twin Star was about to practice landing at Cranfield Airport near Milton Keynes.
As it began descending, the pilot said they saw a red DeltaJet microlight pass about 100ft-200ft (30m-61m) underneath them.
The report concluded that although both pilots shared responsibility for avoiding a collision, the pilot of the DeltaJet could have warned air traffic control it was in the area.
The microlight pilot had planned to fly over central Milton Keynes, but the route seemed more built-up than they had envisaged, and decided to divert around the edge of the city – the report said.
The Airprox Board heard that although the DA42 had been fitted with a traffic alert system, it had not detected the presence of the microlight.
The pilot of the DeltaJet said they were unaware of the near-miss until they received a notice of the investigation, while the DA42 pilot spotted the microlight aircraft after it passed underneath.
It was close enough that they could tell the DeltaJet pilot was wearing a lightly-coloured t-shirt.
“[The board] agreed that the separation between the DA42 and the Deltajet had been such that safety had been much reduced and that there had been a risk of collision,” the report said.