Hovering above London on Boxing Day will be a “disaster waiting to happen” as amateur drone operators take to the sky with their new presents.

Simon Ames, from London Biggin Hill Airport, said: “There are two types of drone operators. There are ones who take the trouble to get properly registered and learn the rules. These are usually broadcasters who use them instead of helicopters.

“The problem is amateur drone flyers who got one as a gift or hear that everyone has one and therefore they must get one too, with no knowledge of the laws and the rules.

“Christmas seems to bring out. That’s when the trouble starts. It’s a disaster waiting to happen.”

London Biggin Hill Airport had its first report of a pilot spotting a drone flying close to one of its planes.

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This comes in the wake of a report of a drone flying to within 20 metres of an A320 Airbus above Bromley on August 4.

A British Airways flight from Geneva was hit by a drone as it approached Heathrow Airport on April 17, believed to have been the first incident of its kind.

Flying a drone near an airport is punishable by up to five years in prison, with rules also forbidding people from taking them above 400ft.

Mr Ames said: “Planes moves along flight paths of course. You never know exactly what the drone is going to do next.

“You can’t see a drone on radar unless it happens to be very chunky, which tend to be operated by responsible people anyway.

“Around London there are a lot of planes at low levels of 400ft, which is around the start of the landing procedure.

“Nobody really knows what will happen if a drone hits a plane. If it was ingested in the jet engine that engine could disintegrate. The bigger the drone, the more damage it could cause.”

Multiple incidents of drones flying close to aeroplanes above London happen each month, according to the UK Aircraft Proximity Board.

Two close calls occurred above Wimbledon, the first when pilots of an A319 Airbus saw a drone fly extremely close to the aircraft “too late to take any evasive action” on May 21.

The second incident occurred when a white quadcopter drone flew close to another A319 Airbus on July 17.