A pilot of a passenger plane has reported a near miss in which according to him a rugby ball-shaped UFO passed within a few feet of his aircraft while flying near Heathrow Airport

The captain of the A320 Airbus told British aviation authorities
 who have investigated the incident that he was certain the object was going to crash into his aircraft and ducked as it headed towards him, reports said.

A report on the apparent near-miss, which took place in July, has just been released by the UK Airprox Board, part of the Civil Aviation Authority.

The investigation has been unable to establish any identity for the mysterious craft, which left the aircrew with no time to take evasive action.

The incident occurred while the plane was cruising at 34,000ft, around 32km west of the airport, over the Berkshire countryside, The Telegraph reported.



The captain spotted the object travelling towards the jet out of a left hand side, cockpit window, apparently heading directly for it.

The report into the incident does not name the airline or flight involved.
 However, it states: "He (the pilot) was under the apprehension that they were on collision course with no time to react. His immediate reaction was to duck to the right and reach over to alert the FO (First Officer); there was no time to talk to alert him."    

It adds: "The Captain was fully expecting to experience some kind of impact with a conflicting aircraft."    

He told investigators he believes the object passed "within a few feet" above the jet.

Once he had composed himself, he checked the aircraft's instruments and contacted air traffic controllers to report the incident. However, there was no sign of the mystery craft.