Police helicopter had a “near miss with a drone” near Raykenheath

When the pilot reported that the drone was approaching danger, the police helicopter was forced to abandon the mission.

Chopper was sent to support RAF Raykenheath in Suffolk, following reports of nearby unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Flight data showed the aircraft climbed sharply, making a series of sharp turns in November, passing through nearby towns of Newmarket.

National Police Air Service (NPAS), which runs Airbus H135, did not comment because the incident was still under investigation. However, the police's request for freedom of information (FOI) has been retracted by the helicopter, saying that “drone was approaching.”

The NPAS confirmed that a helicopter understood to have a registered G-POLJ was sent to the area on November 22 following reports of a drone sighting.

The US Air Force said many unmanned aerial systems have been found near Ruff Raykenheath, Ruff Mildenhall in Suffolk, Ruff Feltwell in Norfolk and Ruff Fairford in Gloucestershire.

NPAS has video footage of the incident, but will not release it for national security reasons, following a series of FOI requests.

What is known as the Airprox notification was sent after the incident.

These are submitted when the pilot or air traffic officer identifies near misses that may have compromised in the safety of the aircraft involved.

The near miss case was detailed at the FOI request to Norfolk and Suffolk police created by Stuart Onyeche.

This disclosed a log entry that stated that “NPA is withdrawing due to drones coming near.”

The logs included 35 notifications related to drone sightings reported to local police between November 22 and 27th.

It mainly contained reports from the public. This explained that we described a drone that did three loops around the private perimeter and loops around the felt well.

A sighting was also reported at another military facility, Bodney Camp, where it was seen moving in the direction of Sandringham and nearby Centre Park.

Another log entry explained, “I grabbed the drone and went back to the car and roa at speed,” but the day this happened was unknown.

The final entry stated, “The informant said he spoke to a former USAF service man, but now he believes that the UFO/spacecraft was captured by the US military in the early '80s.” ”

Onyeche, who said his work is aviation-related, said the incident “supposes obvious safety concerns to the public on the ground due to the risk of the above-mentioned collision.”

He added:

Suffolk Police have referred the BBC inquiries to the Ministry of Defense.

Drone commentator and analyst Ian Hudson extracted data from the Flight Tracking website ADS-B Exchange.

He said at 21:13 GMT on November 22nd, he showed G-Polj was taking off from Northwealth Airfield in Essex. We arrive at RAF Lakenheath 23 minutes later, then head southwest towards Newmarket.

Chopper then climbed a steep slope and made a series of turns.

The BBC was able to replicate his discoveries.

The flight path “sees like a search or tracking through Newmarket.” Hudson said there was a reservation for the presence of drones on top of air bases within the drone community.

“I am skeptical of night drone sightings due to the frequent misunderstandings,” he added.

The investigation into the sightings was led by the Ministry of Defense.

A spokesman for the MOD said, “We take threats seriously and maintain robust measures at our defense sites.”

In February, I-Paper published an analysis of open source data showing that three people related to Russian military intelligence were in the area during the sighting period.

The BBC was unable to verify these reports.