A private jet carrying passengers from Saudi Arabia narrowly avoided crashing as it landed at Stansted Airport.

The Gulfstream 550 sustained damage to its left wing and left landing gear door when it clipped aerials as it approached the runway.

The incident happened in December 2013 but the report was filed in the latest bulletin from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch.

An investigation found the nine-year-old plane had deviated from the correct flightpath as it made an approach for landing.

Instead of going around again, the pilot, with 8,685 hours of flight experience, decided to manually correct the approach, believing that if he could still see the runway and the approach lights there would be no problem.

However, because he made an adjustment at a late stage the plane was too low to avoid the aerials and it was eventually forced to land 550 metres short of the runway.

No injuries were reported to the flight’s four crew and three passengers.

There were no significant problems with the aircraft before the incident and the investigators found the flight had been uneventful.

However, it was left with superficial scratches to the landing gear and “a significant gash” about 300 mm long and 5 mm deep.

The left landing gear door also showed signs of a “significant impact” on its leading edge but no leaks were found.

After the on-site examination, the aircraft was cleared for the short flight to the manufacturer’s UK facility at Luton Airport, where temporary repairs were made.

The plane was then flown to the manufacturer’s main base in Savannah, Georgia, USA, for permanent repairs.