TWO aircrafts avoided crashing into one another mid-air over Monmouthshire by just 200ft, after they effectively did not see one another, according to an industry report.

The report was published by the UK Airprox Board, which assesses the cause and risk for all events reported in UK airspace in which aircraft safety may have been compromised.

The incident on Saturday, November 23 last year involved an Ikarus C42 microlight plane, flying north over Usk, and a Cessna C404, heading south over Abergavenny.

The unnamed Ikarus pilot was en route from Swansea to Shobdon via Usk at around 3,000ft without his strobe tail light on, according to the report.

He noticed the air was more hazy to the east of Cardiff and after he turned north over Usk he consulted his map and checked his GPS.

“A short while after he had put the map back on the passenger seat, he suddenly became aware of an aircraft... approaching fast from his extreme left... slightly below him on a collision course, about one second before it passed beneath him,” said the report.

“He just had enough time to form the impression it was going to miss him, with no time to take any action.”

The plane passed underneath him and since the near-miss the pilot has fitted a new strobe light, said the report – but it revealed he assessed the risk of collision as “very high”.

The Cessna pilot “did not see” the other plane, says the report.