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Drone Believed To Have Hit British Airways Flight 'May Have Been a Plastic Bag' (telegraph.co.uk)

Posted by msmash on from the 'drones-are-the-new-UFOs' dept.

Reader schwit1 writes: The drone that reportedly hit a British Airways jet earlier this week may have actually been a plastic bag, a minister has said. Transport minister Robert Goodwill admitted authorities had not yet confirmed whether what struck the Airbus A320 was a remote-controlled device. The collision on Sunday night is believed to have been at around 1,700 ft near Richmond Park in south west London, over four times higher than the legal height limit. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch is investigating, alongside the Metropolitan Police. But following his comments today, Mr Goodwill also dismissed calls for tighter rules on drone use to protect against terror threats insisting current rules governing drone use were strong enough.From a Quartz report: Motherboard's Jason Koebler dove into the data the FAA released last August dove into the data the FAA released last August, and found that, among other things, "a 'large vulture,' a 'fast moving gray object,' a 'mini blimp,' a 'red UAS or balloon,' and 'a UFO' were all classified as drones in the FAA's report." This led him to decide that, when it comes to verifiable sightings -- even from trained pilots -- "drones are the new UFOs."

7 of 120 comments (clear)

  1. At least UFO was an apt description by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Tho people think they mean aliens when they here UFO pilots reporting thing as a UFO just makes sense, it was flying and they didnt know what it was.

  2. But... by MitchDev · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If a terrorist wants to use a drone to attack a plane, what regulation is going to stop them? They already are looking at breaking murder laws, so why would they care about drone laws?

    1. Re:But... by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Same logic as with the CCTVs.

      "That's going to protect us from the terrorists."
      "Erh... how?"
      "Well, we can see them!"
      "They don't care, they blow themselves to kingdom come anyway, you think they worry about us being able to prosecute them?"
      "But we'll KNOW when they're doing it!"
      "Erh... I thought the big bad KABLAMMO gave that away anyway..."

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    2. Re:But... by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Insightful

      In other words, the legislative provides more and more laws that you can less and less obey, and the cameras provide the footage to ensure we WILL find something to tack to you if we need to silence you.

      Did I get that right?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  3. TIME FOR ACTION! by Lumpy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    WE need a national registry of plastic bags! have licenses issues where all plastic bags should carry the license number of the person that owns it!

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  4. Are we even sure it was an Airbus? by twotacocombo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's amazing how many of these "sensational" stories eventually (and sometimes quickly) fall apart. The race to be first post has really made modern journalism nothing more than a professional game of crying wolf. Unless there's clear video of the actual event happening, it's all suspect at this point, and even video needs to be carefully scrutinized in this day and age.

  5. Re:How does a plastic bag get to 1700 feet? by jellomizer · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why would you want to fly a drone costing hundreds/thousands of dollars 1700 feet?
    That is the part about all this Rogue Dronery the fact that these things are not cheap, why would you want to risk them for general hooliganism.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.