Airliner hits suspected drone while landing at London's Heathrow airport

A British Airways plane hit a drone landing at Heathrow

(Image credit: Pascal Pavani/AFP/Getty Images)

published 18 April 2016

On Sunday afternoon, a British Airways flight landing at London Heathrow from Geneva hit an object that the pilot suspects was a drone. The object hit the front of an Airbus A320 with 132 passengers and five crew on board, and aviation police have opened an investigation. "Our aircraft landed safely, was fully examined by our engineers, and it was cleared to operate its next flight," British Airways said in a statement, adding that the airline will give police "every assistance with their investigation."

If confirmed, this will be the first known collision between drone and civil aircraft in the United Kingdom, but it was "only a matter of time before we had a drone strike," according to Steve Landells of the British Airline Pilots Association. In Great Britain, it is illegal to fly drones near an airport, higher than 400 feet, or near crowds or buildings, BBC News reports.

In the U.S., FAA regulations prohibit flying a drone higher than 500 feet or within five miles of an airport, USA Today says, but that hasn't stopped people from doing it anyway. From January until Aug. 9 last year, pilots reported 650 drone signings in the U.S., according to FAA data, more than double the 238 sightings in 2014. The FAA recently required all drones to be registered, and more than 325,000 people in the U.S. have done so — suggesting the number of drones in the air is higher than the number of piloted aircraft.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.

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