Is it a bird, is it a plane? No – it’s a mystery man flying past an Airbus full of passengers as it flew over Macclesfield at 3,500ft
By Thomas Burrows for MailOnline
The man whizzed within 100 metres of the plane over Macclesfield and left pilots baffled (stock image)
Pilots on a holiday jet were left stunned when a ‘flying man’ whizzed past their aircraft at 3,500 feet.
The mystery man flew within 100 metres of the plane and left the pilots baffled as to how he was moving through the air, as neither could see a canopy suspending him.
There was also no sign of him on the radar and further checks failed to reveal any paragliders, parachutists or balloonists in the area at the time.
He appeared from nowhere as the Airbus 320 passed Macclesfield while it was coming in to land at Manchester Airport and has been dubbed the ‘Superman of Macclesfield’.
The Airprox Board, which looks in to near misses, said: ‘They first sighted the object a few hundred metres in the 11 o’clock position 200 to 300ft above.
‘It passed down the left-hand side of the aircraft at 100 to 200m.
‘The crew only saw it fleetingly, there was no time to take avoiding action and they based their assumptions on it being a person under a canopy. But neither can remember seeing a canopy.’