Two RAF Hawk jets were forced to take evasive action after a near miss with a mystery civilian aircraft over North Wales, according to an official report.
The incident occurred earlier this year near Brynsiencyn, around one kilometre north of the Menai Strait. The RAF jets, which had been flying at 2,000ft, came within just 150ft vertically and 100ft horizontally of the unidentified two-seater plane.
No one was injured, but the UK Airprox Board (UKAB) classified the risk of collision as “medium”.
According to the report, the RAF pilots had been briefed about a “non-cooperating aircraft” in the area, a plane that was neither transmitting a transponder signal (“non-squawking”) nor communicating on radio (“non-talking”). The aircraft was reportedly operating near the Menai Strait but did not appear on radar and gave no prior warning of its position.
The RAF jets had originally intended to climb to 2,500ft to avoid such airspace risks, but low clouds prevented the manoeuvre. The cloud base was recorded at approximately 2,200ft.
After the incident, air traffic control at RAF Valley contacted Caernarfon Aerodrome to try and identify the aircraft, but it was confirmed the plane was not from the local area. The civilian pilot had also failed to establish contact with either Valley or Caernarfon air traffic controllers.
The UKAB report stated:
“It is likely that if even one of the above was different, transponder use, radio contact, or coordination between ATC units, the incident would have been more distant and the probability of a collision reduced substantially.”
The close call has raised concerns over general aviation aircraft flying without transponders or radio contact in controlled or shared airspace, especially in regions where fast jet training is routinely conducted.
