The report said the Flybe pilot at first thought he had seen a large drone moving from west to east across his flightpath (stock photo)

A Flybe jet came within a split second of smashing into a powered paraglider at 195mph in a potentially catastrophic collision while approaching Belfast, a report has revealed.

The flier - suspended from a parachute and powered by a propeller on a backpack - flew as close as 100ft to the Embraer 170 while crossing its flightpath.

The close call happened at 2,000ft when the Flybe flight from Manchester was eight miles from landing at George Best Belfast City Airport.

A report by the UK Airprox Board blamed the paramotor pilot for "flying into conflict" with the twin-engined jet carrying up to 70 passengers. It rated it as a category B incident, where the safety of the aircraft "may have been compromised".

Flight BE486 landed safely after the incident near Carrickfergus at around 7.30pm on August 13 last year.

The board, which investigates near misses in UK airspace, said the paramotor pilot could not be traced despite "intensive" efforts.

It called for the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to review its licensing requirements for paramotor pilots as a result of the incident.

The report said the Flybe pilot at first thought he had seen a large drone moving from west to east across his flightpath.

But his first officer, who first spotted it half-a-mile away, realised it was the multi-coloured canopy of the parachute.

The pilot immediately reported the incident to air traffic controllers, saying that the powered paraglider had passed 100ft to 200ft down the left side of his aircraft.

He said he had no time to take avoiding action because the incident happened so quickly, said the report.

Air traffic controllers confirmed that nothing was seen on radar and there were no sightings by other aircraft.

The paramotor pilot had failed to seek clearance for his flight from air traffic control, as required in category D airspace. The British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association (BHPA) told investigators that it was "most fortunate that a collision did not occur".

It suggested that the incident "almost certainly" involved a paramotor, possibly flying across Belfast Lough towards Bangor with the aid of "a very helpful tailwind".

It added that the height of the incident and wind direction made it "highly unlikely" that it involved an unpowered paraglider soaring from cliffs between Carrickfergus and Whitehead.

The report said: "Extensive enquiries with BHPA schools, clubs and paramotor rated pilots in Northern Ireland regarding whether any paramotor (or paraglider) pilots were operating in that area on the 13th August have drawn a complete blank.

"However, the BHPA would like to add that a number of non- BHPA paramotor pilots operate in Northern Ireland who may not have had the benefit of any formal training in airmanship, air law or airspace restrictions."

The report concluded that the paramotor pilot had entered the category D airspace without informing air traffic control.

It noted that the pilot was probably not a BHPA member "and therefore had potentially not participated in their formal training and pilot rating programme".

The report added: "The board discussed how such pilots could be assured to have received appropriate instruction regarding the applicable aviation law, including airspace categorisation."

The board recommended that the CAA review certification and licensing requirements for paramotor activities, as it was not convinced that existing rules were "robust" enough.

The report said that the increasing numbers of independently operated paramotors meant that "efforts to educate the associated community of pilots were likely to be somewhat haphazard".

It added: "For their part, the EMB170 pilots were placed in an unenviable situation whereby they had little time to recognise and react to an unexpected threat that was not detectable using their on-board systems either."

The report said the Flybe crew only saw the paramotor "at a late stage and at a critical point in their approach", meaning they did not have "time to react in a timely manner".

It added: "Fortunately the paramotor was sufficiently far away that a collision did not occur."

The report said it was also agreed that safety margins had been much reduced below the norm".

Timo Anderson, Flybe's chief operating officer, agree with the report's recommendations.

He added: "Safety is always Flybe's number one priority and we employ a rigorous approach to ensuring the very highest standards are met and maintained at all times to ensure the safety of our passengers and crew."

Belfast Telegraph