Drone believed to have hit British Airways flight ‘may have been a plastic bag’

Transport minister Richard Goodwill said: “The reported drone strike on Sunday has not been confirmed it was actually a drone.”

It was the local police force that tweeted that they had a report of a drone striking an aircraft.

“And indeed the early reports of a dent in the front of the plane were not confirmed – there was no actual damage to the plane and there’s indeed some speculation that it may have even been a plastic bag or something.”

“I’ve not actually landed a 747 at Heathrow but I’ve landed the simulator and the pilot has a lot of other things to concentrate on so we’re not quite sure what they saw so I think we should maybe not overreact too much.”

Asked what the Government could do to tighten the rules on drone use, Mr Goodwill said:”There are already existing laws in place that require the user of drones to maintain direct unaided visual contact with their vehicle and not to recklessly or negligently permit an aircraft to endanger any person or property.

“So this instance that we’ve read about and is alleged were already breaking existing legislation and the Department and the Civil Aviation Authority are working with a wide range of industry partners across the sector, including manufacturers, airports and airlines to ensure our understanding of potential hazards to aircrafts remains up-to-date.”

Source: Here and Over on Reddit.