Drone hits plane at Heathrow

[Shikra]

Right now I'm listening to a group conversation in the office about the news this morning. Unfortunately consensus is to ban drones. Instant reaction to anything seems to be to ban it rather than address the individual culprits.

[Loopdreams]

If this is confirmed then I reckon that's probably what will happen.  End of the hobby as any sort of an enjoyable thing.

[Hawkview]

Easy fix, let's do dash board cams for planes :D, plane board cameras :D

This way we see what the pilot really does see.

[dogzilla]

Allegedly.

However if true it probably was a Phantom pilot wanting to get cool photos of planes.

[Jake Bullit]

Where's all the bits of white plastic scattered over the approach?

[keukpa]

It's the law to register as a driver of a car and take a course

If you own a car, you have to register that you own it

To use the car you have to pay a TAX and have mandatory insurance

However:-

How many people EACH day are arrested for driving:

a) Without insurance
b) Without a driving license
c) Not their own registered vehicle?

:censored:  LOADS that how many.... what happens here is people call for more regulation.... the simple fact of the matter is this.... if this 'was' a drone, it is almost certainly operated by an individual that would do this regardless, and wouldn't bother with insurance, registration or licensing.

It just hurts the law abiding, once again....

[FPVSteve]

Correct keukpa, nail on the head.

[Lola]

Where's all the bits of white plastic scattered over the approach?

Yes i was thinking that as well. Also, why don't they have security patrolling in the approach areas if drones are becoming a problem?

I reckon there will be an accident. I'll put a tenner on it. It will be a government planned accident just like 9-11 and made to believe it was some Isis terrorist.

[rob.thomson]

Interesting bit in info.

I was chatting to a friend of mine who is a first officer - flies airbus etc..

Now...  according to bbc monkeys this incident happened circa 8 minutes from landing.

The aircraft in question depends on landing at circa 1000ft per minute.

So.. 8 x 1000ft is impact at around 8000ft.

That's 2438 meters above ground.

So....

It was certainly not a quad copter.

I guess a chance of it being a skywalker- but then I would think that that would have been easier to identify- and probably called an rc model by the pilot.

My feeling is that this was an impact with an unknown object.   It could have been a balloon.  A bird... anything.

I am sure the caa will have some common sense.  Question is.. will the idiotic public!


Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

[FPVSteve]

If it was 8 minutes out it would have been miles away.

Here's one on FlightAware right now. .... 12 miles out, 6 mins remaining, 3,200ft high.




So if we say 8 minutes, lets put that at 533ft/min (3,200ft / 6mins), so 3,200 + 533 + 533 = 4,266ft high
2 miles per min, so 12 miles + 2 + 2 = 16 miles.


So - it's not exactly on the glidepath into EGLL is it, >15 miles out and >4000ft up.

THe article makes it sound like the drone pilot was flying above the runway threshold :(



I don't know many people who fly a phantom above 1000ft let alone 4000ft

[iPeel]

According to http://news.met.police.uk/news/appeal-following-incident-with-aircraft-160468

"It was flying at approximately 1,700 ft at the time of the incident shortly before the aircraft landed at 12:38hrs"

...

"Officers believe that the incident occurred over the Richmond area, in proximity of Richmond Park, South West London. Local officers searched a wide area for suspects and/or debris but nothing has so far been found."

So just under 600m is definitely achievable by a quad, and Richmond Park is nearly 10Km from Heathrow so may not have been considered to be that risky by whoever was flying it.

[Lola]

According to http://news.met.police.uk/news/appeal-following-incident-with-aircraft-160468

"It was flying at approximately 1,700 ft at the time of the incident shortly before the aircraft landed at 12:38hrs"

...

"Officers believe that the incident occurred over the Richmond area, in proximity of Richmond Park, South West London. Local officers searched a wide area for suspects and/or debris but nothing has so far been found."

So just under 600m is definitely achievable by a quad, and Richmond Park is nearly 10Km from Heathrow so may not have been considered to be that risky by whoever was flying it.

Well this cracks the case wide open.

We fly 9k from schönefeld airport. If the wind is coming from the west they fly right over us, then turn to land into wind. Flight radar puts them at about 700 meters. Obviously when this happens we go fly at our second location to save such hassles but it is easy for any of our planes or quads to reach that alt in no time.

[bignose13]

I genuinely believe this is the beginning of the end   :goodnight:

[Gundummy]

Aww c'mon .... Let's not be negative. There's no confirmation it was a drone. No parts. No culprit. No facts other than the pilot saw something and those plane engines can take some stick to say the least.

I think the hobby is safe for now.... No one is going to action change on hearsay.

[FPVSteve]

Doesn't help that the likes of the BBC paint it all in such a negative light - innocent before proven guilty and all that seems to have disappeared.