Drone hit plane approaching Heathrow

[helired3]

this in not good at all if true

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36067591

[Thumper]

I hope they can trace the owner and issue a suitably harsh punishment for utter stupidity.

[lambo17841]

Had too happen with all the near misses reported,only a matter of time before really serious accident.
Throw the book if the person is caught.

John in Seaford

[SPLAT]

Is a drone too small to be caught on radar? Wether it be ground based or on an aircraft?

[FarnboroJohn]

On the bright side, it seems the plane landed safely. Naturally I deplore the inappropriate use of the thing and hope the culprit is brought to justice. However, there are no reports of damage, which one would have expected from our hysterical media had there been any - in fact one would have expected the airline also to highlight quantified evidence of the risk.

Is it possible that the public's drones, while posing an unwelcome additional variety of risk, actually are an infinitesimal or no threat? That a kilo of plastic is no more dangerous than a kilo of Mallard and less than a flock of racing pigeons?

John

[Thumper]

You're right in that a small drone would probably do no more damage than a bird but the difference is the operator of the drone (unless a naiive child) would have known there were aircraft in the area and shouldn't be flying it that high near approaching aircraft, if that goes in an engine, smashes a windscreen etc then that is a major problem. If a bird brought an aircraft down it's a tragic accident, if a drone brought an aircraft down, my god, I cannot imagine the implications. I think drones are an absolute menace unless flown by someone who knows what they're doing and has more than an ounce of common sense and is not invading privacy, they're also getting bigger and bigger now and then there's the problem with people attaching camera's on them and flying around filming stuff including trying to get inside airports and bases, some places are now getting birds of prey in to take them out!

[Tangoringo]

All well and good if it is a small drone but with modern machines able to fly for 45 mins plus and with a total weight in excess of 10-15 kgs ( nice little payload of of Semtex? ) and all of a sudden you have a big problem. Unfortunately in recent months this has become ever more common and only a few months ago one was spotted around 6000ft on R base for The Westerlies at LHR.
What with these and lasers you do wonder what goes through some people's minds and whether they appreciate the possible end results of their stupidity. Time for Airbusses to be armed with a hellfire or two....

[Orion]

Doesn't surprise. I have on occasion wondered about the 'validity' of some of the photos posted here.

Regards

[capercaillie]

Doesn't surprise. I have on occasion wondered about the 'validity' of some of the photos posted here.

Regards

Anything you would like to point out in particular?

[flyholt]

Ano article 166 is quite specific and refers to aircraft of 20kg or less.
First of all, the person in charge of a small unmanned aircraft may only fly the aircraft if reasonably satisfied that the flight can safely be made. That covers a multitude of things. But in addition a person can, under the Air Navigation Order, be charged with "endangering an aircraft". When I was duty supervisor in the tower at Edinburgh one 5th Nov, we had 3 separate reports of rockets passing close to aircraft on final which were coming from a display at Silverknows beach. The organiser refused to stop and the police arrested the organising committee. I had to give evidence in a Sheriffs court and 3 of them were given suspended jail sentences and a substantial fine.
No way can anyone flying a drone under or near approach / climb-out paths of ANY airfield be satisfied that the flight can be safely made. They must also keep direct unaided contact with the drone sufficient to monitor its path to other aircraft, persons, vehicles, vessels and structures for the purposes of avoiding collisions. No way could the person responsible for the drone at 6000ft on right base for EGLL be able to do that!

As always the dear old general public will hardly consider the consequences of using these drones. I wonder if the manufacturers or distributors of these drones has taken the trouble to insert a leaflet advising the operator of his / her responsibilities? One thing is for sure, sooner or later someone is going to get fined or banged up over negligent use of drones for private use.

[Wissam24]

Doesn't surprise. I have on occasion wondered about the 'validity' of some of the photos posted here.

Regards

Anything you would like to point out in particular?

Yes, I'd be quite interested to know which ones he has in mind too.

[Brevet Cable]

Cardiff city on New Years Eve -- Police helicopter hovering around most of the night , and there were 8 drones being flown that I could see ( so how many more were there that I couldn't ? ) and given that most of these drones were up around the 250-300ft mark it's probably more by luck than judgement that there wasn't an 'airprox' or even a collision......not forgetting that in the event of a problem with a drone the most likely place it would crash would have been onto the crowds below.
Presumably it was the same elsewhere.

Conversely , I know that the likes of the BBC - or production companies working for them - have applied for permission to fly drones over parts of the City ( Cardiff Castle , usually ) and have been refused due to there being safety concerns because of the risk to pedestrians should the drone suffering technical problems.

[Brevet Cable]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36083916

Drones will be banned from flying in large parts of London during the visit of US President Barack Obama, aviation officials have announced.
The restrictions on drones, which are remotely-controlled, unmanned aircraft, will apply between 09:00 BST on Thursday and 22:30 on Sunday.
The ban also extends between London and Windsor, where Mr Obama will have lunch with the Queen on Friday.

Presumably covered by the "no aircraft" NOTAMs which have already been issued for London for the weekend ?

Wonder how many muppits will still do it ?

[Wissam24]

Bloody yanks, so demanding.

[Unknown74]

Anti-Drone Missile anyone?

[Tangoringo]

http://newsthump.com/2016/04/18/drone-pilot-furious-after-uninsured-passenger-jet-crashes-into-him/

Couldn't help but post this

[Tangoringo]

One thing is for sure, sooner or later someone is going to get fined or banged up over negligent use of drones for private use.

...And I do hope they do before their stupidity costs lives.

[APG]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36083916

Drones will be banned from flying in large parts of London during the visit of US President Barack Obama, aviation officials have announced.
The restrictions on drones, which are remotely-controlled, unmanned aircraft, will apply between 09:00 BST on Thursday and 22:30 on Sunday.
The ban also extends between London and Windsor, where Mr Obama will have lunch with the Queen on Friday.

Presumably covered by the "no aircraft" NOTAMs which have already been issued for London for the weekend ?

Wonder how many muppits will still do it ?

This is just the media jumping on the bandwagon, most restricted airspace NOTAM's have a note relating to Part A, Schedule 3 of the ANO, this really isn't anything unusual.

[Brevet Cable]

Other than the fact that it's being publicised outside of the aviation community , unlike most NOTAMs.......after all , how many people who've purchased drones over the last year or two have a clue what a NOTAM is ( or where to find them ) or even know the operating regulations & what permissions are required ?

And is it really bandwagon-jumping , given that similar publicity has been given for NOTAMs covering events such as the NATO conference ?

[Burleysway]

Drone believed to have hit British Airways flight 'may have been a plastic bag

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04 ... have-been/

[Tangoringo.]

With all due respect the minister is talking ballcocks!

[rambo]

With all due respect the minister is talking ballcocks!

because...............

[exocet_uk]

With all due respect the minister is talking ballcocks!

because...............

From the aforementioned link;

"I've not actually landed a 747 at Heathrow but I've landed the simulator and the pilot has a lot of other things to concentrate on so we're not quite sure what they saw so I think we should maybe not overreact too much."

He's flown a sim once so he must be on the ball.

[FarnboroJohn]

Chap seems really quite sensible for a politician. I think we've all had enough of kneejerk reactions in the last year....

John

[speedbird2639]

Anti-Drone Missile anyone?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35519470

Almost certainly cheaper; captures the drone in one piece so it cld be sold to a tv company or used by the Police and birds of prey like this are just awesome!