Thread: Drone hits BA plane approaching Heathrow

Police said the suspected drone had struck an inbound Airbus A320, similar to this one

A plane approaching Heathrow Airport is believed to have hit a drone before it landed safely, the Metropolitan Police has said.

The British Airways flight from Geneva was hit as it approached the London airport at about 12:50 BST with 132 passengers and five crew on board.

After landing, the pilot reported an object - believed to be a drone - had struck the front of the Airbus A320.

Aviation police based at Heathrow have launched an investigation.

Police said no arrests have been made.

If confirmed, it is believed to be the first incident of its kind in the UK.

A British Airways spokesman said: "Our aircraft landed safely, was fully examined by our engineers and it was cleared to operate its next flight."

The airline will give the police "every assistance with their investigation", the spokesman added.

A Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) spokesman said it was "totally unacceptable" to fly drones close to airports, and anyone flouting the rules can face "severe penalties, including imprisonment".

Steve Landells, from the British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa), said it had been "only a matter of time before we had a drone strike". He called for greater enforcement of existing rules.

'Drone' hits British Airways plane approaching Heathrow Airport - BBC News

I wonder how much explosive �� one of those little drones could carry.

^Very good question, and it's a very scary scenario.

Probably a starling, but don't let lack of facts get in the way of a good story.

^ LMFAO

The authorities must be rubbing their hands in glee, they have been waiting for this, so they now bring in new laws. Laws to curb private drones.

Originally Posted by wasabi

The authorities must be rubbing their hands in glee, they have been waiting for this, so they now bring in new laws. Laws to curb private drones.

I would say laws governing the use of private drones are essential wouldn't you?

Originally Posted by Cujo

Originally Posted by wasabi

The authorities must be rubbing their hands in glee, they have been waiting for this, so they now bring in new laws. Laws to curb private drones.

I would say laws governing the use of private drones are essential wouldn't you?

There already are law. Can not go higher than 400m vertically, and no more than 500m away from you in any direction. Not allowed to fly over people or areas that are not in your control.

That's fair enough for safety. What will happen though is they will want people to have a license to use them, so that they can not be used to watch police as they beat the shit out of protesters, or to sneak into the private estates of the elites whilst they are sacrificing animals in the garden at the pims party summer fete

we have several drones inhabiting this website

will new laws be able to control them ?

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Probably a starling, but don't let lack of facts get in the way of a good story.

Yup, short of the thing splatting itself against the cockpit windscreen I reckon it's pretty good going for the pilots to have identified it as a drone whilst travelling towards it at 160 knots or so and, one would think, concentrating on their final approach.

Originally Posted by Roobarb

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Probably a starling, but don't let lack of facts get in the way of a good story.

Yup, short of the thing splatting itself against the cockpit windscreen I reckon it's pretty good going for the pilots to have identified it as a drone whilst travelling towards it at 160 knots or so and, one would think, concentrating on their final approach.

Since about 2001 the Aviation industry and related government officials never let logic interfere with panic.

^^ actually, I stand a little corrected.

Full of self-righteous indignation about the number of reported drone near-misses, I had a quick look at YouTube to see if there was any footage of of planes coming in to land taken from a drone, the basis being that if so many people were stupid enough to use them in a flight path then they were bound to be stupid enough to post the 'amazing' footage of near misses up there. I didn't find any, but I did find a clip of a plane hitting a drone.

I guess I'd assumed by 'drone' they meant something plastic with a propellor at each corner that you'd buy at a toy shop, If it's big enough then I'll (grudgingly) concede that you could probably fairly easily identify it as being something other than a bird.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Probably a starling, but don't let lack of facts get in the way of a good story.

Is myopia a worry for ya?

The above vid. posted by Roobarb clearly shows a fixed wing type drone hitting the airliner's winglet, ( 2m or so in height), of which the top 0.6m or thereabouts then disintegrates.(@ 22 seconds)

It was no starling.

Originally Posted by Cujo

Originally Posted by wasabi

The authorities must be rubbing their hands in glee, they have been waiting for this, so they now bring in new laws. Laws to curb private drones.

I would say laws governing the use of private drones are essential wouldn't you?

They should slap HUGE fines on the retards using drones near airports. I don't want to be in a plane that hits one just because JimBob's playing with his toy.

That is a pretty big drone. Similar shape, but much bigger looking than the Phantom range.

Originally Posted by Cujo

I wonder how much explosive �� one of those little drones could carry.

The cuzzy bros of Northland would go ape for a few of them to guard their dope patches, as long as they knew how to point the damn things in the right direction without quarreling....

Originally Posted by Little Chuchok

Originally Posted by Cujo

I wonder how much explosive �� one of those little drones could carry.

I'll see that and raise ...