Flying drone with camera
Source: Huffington Post
By Lee Moran
Trends Editor, The Huffington Post
British Airways pilots said their aircraft was hit by a drone while approaching London’s Heathrow Airport on Sunday afternoon.
Police are investigating the incident, which is believed to be the first case of its kind.
“It transpired that an object, believed to be a drone, had struck the front of the aircraft,” a spokesman for London’s Metropolitan Police said.
The Airbus A320 from Geneva, Switzerland, was carrying 132 passengers and 5 crew members when it was hit at 12:50 p.m., the BBC reported.
The plane still managed to make a safe landing.
A British Airways spokesman said the aircraft was “fully examined by our engineers” and “cleared to operate its next flight.”
Although the plane sustained no damage, the incident sparked calls for increased drone regulation around airports.
Steve Landells, from the British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA), told the Daily Telegraph it was “frankly only a matter of time before we had a drone strike given the huge numbers being flown around by amateurs who don’t understand the risks and the rules.”
Counter-terrorism expert Richard Kemp described the collision as “deeply alarming.”
“Whether this turns out to be related to terrorism or not, it is just one more illustration of the enormous challenges facing our anti-terror agencies daily,” Kemp told The Sun newspaper. “We know terrorists have for a long time sought to use drones to visit violence on innocent people and it a very real threat.”
Categories: Europe, London, The Muslim Times, UK
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They were very fortunate that the jet was able to land safely despite the drone’s threat. I hope relevant authorities take necessary actions to make sure nothing like this happens in the future.