A PILOT leaving an Essex airport has reported having a near miss with a "glinting object".

There were at least seven near misses with objects which may have been balloons in the UK airspace last year according to pilots.

Rishi Sunak responded to concerns after US authorities shot down a series of objects in western airspace in recent days, including a suspected Chinese spy balloon.

Mr Sunak said the Government will do “whatever it takes” to keep the UK safe from the threat of spy balloons.

Towards the end of last year, a number of pilots observed objects passing by planes, just days apart from each other.

Four days after a sighting from a pilot in the cockpit of a plane, a pilot on a Boeing 737 taking off from Stansted Airport reported seeing a “glinting object” as near as 50 metres away.

The pilot said he “first thought it was a balloon” but then decided that was unlikely given it was at an altitude of 9,000ft, so believed it was a drone.

Other objects have been spotted near Manchester Airport, Hatfield in Hertfordshire, Norwich, Liverpool and Enfield.

In October 2017, the Met Office said it launches more than 4,300 balloons every year from six locations across the UK, and is involved in launching thousands more around the globe.

The radiosonde balloons released by the Met Office carry instruments which measure and record atmospheric pressure and stability, temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction.