BA 777 Crew Reports 'Four Toasters' Object 50 Feet Above Wing, Board Can't Identify It
This scan turned up one report worth your time. It comes from an official UK air-safety body, and it has been widely covered since the weekend. Here's what the record supports and what it doesn't.
British Airways 777 reports a metallic object within 50 feet near Guildford
What was reported: A Boeing 777 that had just left Heathrow for New York was climbing through about 5,800 feet, roughly 4 nautical miles northeast of Guildford, Surrey, at around 12:08 UTC. The crew reported a silver, metallic, reflective object about the "size of four toasters." It was moving very fast in the opposite direction and passed no more than about 50 feet above the right wing. In their written report the crew called it "likely a mid-size drone." Media reports name the operator as British Airways. The airline told reporters it takes such incidents "extremely seriously."
When: The encounter took place on June 24, 2026. It became news this week because the UK Airprox Board published its findings in its September 2026 batch of reports (case 2026127).
Evidence: The Board found that a definite collision risk existed and rated the event Category A, its highest risk grade. It was the only Category A among the 13 drone and unknown-object reports in that batch. It also said it was "unable to determine the nature of the unknown object" and filed it as unknown, not as a likely drone. NATS investigators checked radar for the time of the sighting and found no matching contact. No evasive action was needed, and the flight continued normally.
Verifiability rating: Strong. The source is an official safety-board report based on a professional crew's account. The object itself is still unidentified. There is no photo, no video and no radar track.
Likely ordinary explanations: A small drone is the explanation the crew suggested themselves. A stray foil party balloon also fits "silver, metallic and reflective." Two other crews in the same batch raised a balloon as a possibility. In a 2021 case at Chicago O'Hare, the FAA concluded that a reported object was a party balloon. Neither explanation has been confirmed. Small objects like these often don't show up on primary radar, so the missing radar contact doesn't point either way.
Source: DroneXL, Aerospace Global News, and the UK Airprox Board's September 2026 reviews.
What didn't make the cut
We also checked a few other reports from the past few days and left them out. The "swirling fiery lights" over Parsippany, New Jersey, turned out to be skydivers wearing leg pyrotechnics before a high school football game. Several "new" fireball stories going around this week are actually from previous years. The Pentagon's seventh UAP file release is covered in our earlier post.
Saw something yourself?
Before you call it a UFO, run it through our Is it a UFO? checker. It covers satellites, planets, balloons, drones and the other usual suspects. If you do catch something odd, steady footage with a time and direction makes the difference. A phone tripod with a telephoto lens helps a lot.
Sources: DroneXL, Oct 26, 2026; Aerospace Global News, Oct 27, 2026; Aviation A2Z, Oct 26, 2026; UK Airprox Board, September 2026 reviews; News 12 New Jersey, Oct 23, 2026.