It had to happen, and now it has. After several near-misses and warnings from pilots and plane companies, a drone has hit a passenger jet trying to
It had to happen, and now it has. After several near-misses and warnings from pilots and plane companies, a drone has hit a passenger jet trying to land at London’s Heathrow airport.
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The British Airways airbus, inbound from Geneva, was able to land safely and no damage was reported to the plane’s nose, but an impact a few metres higher could have taken out the cockpit, and a drone being sucked into a plane engine would be similarly catastrophic.
Police in Britain and elsewhere have issued warnings in the past about the public’s use of remotely-controlled drones near airports and other sensitive sites.
There have been calls for drones to be fitted with geo-fencing technology, which uses
GPS software to stop them straying into certain areas, along with height and distance
limits, and for drones to be registered.