Slashdot Mirror
Jet Strikes Drone Near Heathrow Airport (marketwatch.com)
smooth wombat writes: "A British Airways flight Sunday appears to have collided with a drone on a flight bound for London's busy Heathrow Airport in what may be the first such incident involving a major airline," according to MarketWatch. "The flight from Geneva, Switzerland to Heathrow, Europe's busiest hub, is believed to have struck a drone, the London Metropolitan Police said in a statement. The plane landed safely following the incident, which occurred around 12:50 p.m. local time. 'It was 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,' said BALPA flight safety specialist Steve Landells... 'Much more education of drone users and enforcement of the rules is needed to ensure our skies remain safe from this threat'."
"There has been no evidence presented that it hit a drone. Just speculation at this point."
Absolutely true!
What's more, even if this *was* a drone-strike, it simply proves what I (and many others) have been saying for years... a small recreational drone poses a very, very small danger to a commercial airliner. But hey, even if you don't believe me, why not believe Dr Chris Manno, an ex-USAF pilot who now flies 737-800s for one of the USA's largest airlines. His blog entry on the subject of the risks that recreational drones pose to commercial air flights is refreshingly frank and honest -- unlike the crap we're fed by the pilots' unions, airspace regulators and the media.
In fact, Chris Manno's comments on laser pointers and the danger they pose to pilots is also an eye-opener.
What a shame that so many ignorant people (even here on Slashdot) prefer to believe the dross that the media dishes up to them without challenge. Newsbreak: the mainstream media has long ago stopped being a reliable, factual, objective, informed source of news information! It's now all about sensational click-bait stories that focus on hype and misinformation to get eyeballs on webpages, TV screens and newspapers. I'm really rather disappointed in fact that so many Slashdot readers have fallen for this stuff. I guess it speaks to how the Slashdot readership has changed from an intelligent, *thinking* group of individuals to just a cross-section of the "Joe Average" public.
Shame really.