Two aircraft were involved in a near-miss at Sleap Airfield last year, a report has revealed.

The UK Airprox Board has assessed an incident which took place at Sleap on July 16, 2021, in which two light aircrafts came within 200 yards of an airborne collision.

The two-seater Cessna 152 and a Rutan VariEze – a type of high-performance home-built aircraft – were involved in the near-miss, with the pilots of both planes giving accounts of the near miss to the report.

The C152 was being used by a student pilot around the Sleap Airfield, when they spotted the VariEze to their right.

The pilot's account says: “They manoeuvred their aircraft to the left and descended a little to increase speed. They estimated they had flown left between 100-200yds and turned right onto downwind leg again. The VariEze was then seen apparently flying straight towards the C152.”

The C152 then immediately made a sharp left turn and descended again to avoid a potential collision with the other aircraft.

The report adds: “Their student was shaken up by the experience. After landing they made contact with the pilot of the VariEze who said they had not seen the C152 in the circuit."

The pilot assessed the risk of the collision as “high”.

The report also includes a statement by the pilot of the other aircraft involved in the incident, which reads: “Before the VariEze pilot reached the point where they were about to turn they did not see any aircraft to affect them and turned 90 degrees right, parallel with the Sleap runway.

“Shortly after making this turn they called ‘[C/S] downwind to land RW36 Right’ and heard someone call ‘Aircraft that has just turned downwind, you have just made me take evasive action to avoid hitting you’.”

After landing the two pilots discussed the incident.

The board assessing the incident commended the student in the C152 for not becoming distracted, and taking action to avoid the other plane.

Ultimately the incident was graded as Risk Category B, confirming that aircraft safety was compromised.

Bruce Buglass, airfield manager at Sleap, said: "The incident was voluntarily referred to the AAIB by the pilots involved and in accordance with Sleap Airfield’s safety policy, which encourages honest, open and just incident reporting and discovery of facts without apportioning blame.

"It's only through operating a ‘just culture’ that lessons can be learned and shared with other pilots to help prevent similar incidents from occurring."