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An Air France Airbus A320 narrowly avoided colliding with a drone while descending for an approach to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport last month, the French aviation investigation agency BEA said. The aircraft had been operating a service from Barcelona on February 19 and was flying at 5,500ft when the co-pilot saw the drone. He immediately disengaged the autopilot and carried out an avoidance manoeuvre while informing the captain of the drone's presence, BEA said on its website. The drone passed just five metres below the aircraft's left wing, the agency said, classifying the incident as "serious". An investigation is ongoing.<br/>

A Florida man who flew a small gyrocopter through protected Washington airspace before landing outside the US Capitol last spring was seconds away from colliding with a Delta flight that had taken off from Reagan National Airport, prosecutors said. In a court filing Friday, prosecutors said Douglas Hughes flew his one-person aircraft almost directly into the oncoming flight path of the 150-person Airbus turbojet last April. Hughes came within 1,400 yards of Delta Flight 1639, while safety rules require aircraft to remain separated by more than 3,000 yards. “If the gyrocopter had drifted slightly west, or the airline had taken a slightly more easterly path, a collision could have occurred,” prosecutors said. Such a collision could have been “catastrophic,” they added. Hughes, who agreed to a plea deal in November, is set to be sentenced April 13. Prosecutors are asking for 10 months in prison, arguing the former mail carrier from Ruskin, Florida, put countless lives at risk. Hughes rejected the prosecution court filing saying he knew where the commercial air traffic was and “I didn’t go there.” <br/>