The UK Airprox Board reported two incidents in which drones came within 30ft and 50ft of the jets near Manchester Airports.

Both were rated as at the highest level of risk of a mid-air crash.

On one occasion the drone flew past the plane on its landing approach as daylight was fading.

These are just the latest in a long line of close shaves with drones which have triggered repeated warnings of the risk of an air disaster.

Last month the Department for Transport proposed a crackdown with a ban on flying drones above 400ft or near airports.

Owners of drones weighing more than 250 grammes (0.5lbs) also face having to sit a safety awareness test.

Police may also be given the power to seize drones suspected of being involved in an offence.

In the Airprox Board’s latest report it highlights near misses at the height of the summer holidays.

On August 7 in mid-afternoon the pilot of a Boeing 757 - capable of carrying up to 295 passengers - reported that a “drone passed overhead by approximately 50ft".

The Board said: “He opined that he had no doubt a collision would have occurred had the drone been any lower.”

And on September 19 at 10.05pm the pilot of an Airbus 321 - which can carry a maximum of 236 passengers - reported a close shave as he came in to land at Manchester Airport.

He saw “a large black X-shaped drone in close proximity and level with the flight deck”.

The report added: “There was no time to avoid the drone.”

On this occasion it passed just 30ft above the plane very close to the airport.

The Airprox Board said: “The drone was being flown in the vicinity of an airfield approach path and beyond practical Visual Line of Sight limits such that it was endangering other aircraft at that location and altitude.”

In both cases the Airport Board said that “providence had played a major part in the incident and/or a definite risk of collision had existed”.