'Drone' hits British Airways plane approaching Heathrow Airport
The British Airways flight from Geneva was hit as it approached the London airport at about 12:50 BST with 132 passengers and five crew on board.
After landing, the pilot reported an object - believed to be a drone - had struck the front of the Airbus A320.
Aviation police based at Heathrow have launched an investigation.
Police said no arrests have been made.
If confirmed, it is believed to be the first incident of its kind in the UK.
A British Airways spokesman said: "Our aircraft landed safely, was fully examined by our engineers and it was cleared to operate its next flight."
The airline will give the police "every assistance with their investigation", the spokesman added.
A Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) spokesman said it was "totally unacceptable" to fly drones close to airports, and anyone flouting the rules can face "severe penalties, including imprisonment".
Steve Landells, from the British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa), said it had been "only a matter of time before we had a drone strike". He called for greater enforcement of existing rules.
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But the latest incident will only add to the pressure for further steps to be taken.
The US recently introduced a compulsory registration scheme so any drone recovered from an accident can be traced back to its owner.
In addition, officials could make it mandatory for drones to run geo-fencing software - that would prevent them flying in restricted areas.
The Department for Transport has promised to publish a strategy for unmanned aircraft this year.
And pilots have also called for the DoT to fund tests into what would happen if a drone got sucked into an engine or crashed into a plane's windscreen.
Last month, the British Airline Pilots Association noted that while the threat of bird strikes had been well researched there was little data about how much damage a drone could cause a plane.
'Severe penalties'
The incident follows a warning earlier this year by the head of the International Air Transport Association that drones flown by the general public are "a real and growing threat" to civilian aircraft.
Tony Tyler called for drone regulations to be put in place before any serious accidents occur.
The UK Air Proximity Board - which investigates near-miss incidents in UK airspace - said there have been a number of serious near-misses at UK airports involving drones.
Category A incidents - the most serious - were reported at Stansted, Heathrow, London City and Manchester airports last year.
Drone incidents at UK airports
Image copyright BAA
- 17 April 2016 - A British Airways plane approaching Heathrow is believed to have hit a drone while in midair
- 28 November 2015 - The pilot of a A321 plane narrowly missed a drone hovering at 100ft above a runway at Gatwick Airport
- 30 September 2015 - A small drone helicopter passed within 30ft of the cockpit of an A319 plane while on the approach to Heathrow
- 22 September 2015 - A "quadcopter-type drone" missed the right-hand side of a B777 plane by about 25m while at 2,000ft after it left Heathrow Airport
- 13 September 2015 - A silver drone with a "balloon-like" centre missed an E170 aircraft by about 20m, while the plane was approaching London City Airport over the Thames
- 13 September 2015 - A drone flew over the top of a B737 aircraft while at 4,000ft, missing it by about 5m, shortly after it left Stansted
- 27 August 2015 - A DO328 aircraft flew within 50ft of a drone while approaching Manchester Aiport at 2,800ft
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And as with many things no one will take this problem seriously enough until someone (or a bunch of people) dies. To a lot of people who own and fly these drones they are just a fun hobby, but as businesses start to use them they are going to become an irritation and then downright dangerous. I don't see them as a toy and I believe there need to be some strong regulations about licensing operators above a certain (to be determined) level of power and distance the drone can be flown.
I also agree with the idea of an unalterable way for the drone to be traced back to it's owner.
''And as with many things no one will take this problem seriously enough until someone (or a bunch of people) dies''....
Yup.
And considering the "Miracle on the Hudson" happened because of bird strikes, this makes a lot of sense;
And pilots have also called for the DoT to fund tests into what would happen if a drone got sucked into an engine or crashed into a plane's windscreen.
Just the pilot distraction is bad enough, but when one gets sucked into an engine there's no telling the trouble it can cause.
there's no telling the trouble it can cause.
Actually Randy, I can tell you exactly what trouble it can cause. When I was stationed on an LST, our primary anti aircraft weapon was a 3" 50 light artillery piece. For anti aircraft use, we used VT Frag shells. These were radar detonated shells that fragmented into a large number of pieces of metal approximately 1" in diameter. They were designed to detonate ahead of an aircraft when it came within 30 yards. If even one of the fragments hits an impeller blade on the jet engine of the plane, the impeller is shattered and pieces of it fly all over the engine. That means certain destruction of the engine and probable destruction of the aircraft if one of the hundreds of pieces of impeller severs a fuel line (quite likely to happen). Having a drone, or any other solid object, flying in any area where it might get in front of a jet is an extremely dangerous situation.
Let's hope there is enough left of the drone to identify whose it is. I am convinced that it will happen sooner or later, accidentally or on purpose.
an unalterable way for the drone to be traced back to it's owner
That sounds like a valuable plan .
I think that if a drone owner knows that it is almost a certainty that their drone can be traced back to them then they'll be less likely to screw around and do things like fly them over and around airports. A few years back it was shining laser lights at pilots and then they really upped the penalty for it and it seemed to stop.