An apparent incident of a drone hitting a landing plane at Heathrow airport may not have involved a drone at all.
On Sunday afternoon the pilot of flight BA727 from Geneva to London reported that the Airbus A320 had been struck by a drone on approach to the UK’s main airport.
Fortunately, Tte plane landed safely at Heathrow’s Terminal 5, and the plane was swiftly declared safe for takeoff as an investigation commenced.
Now it turns out that it may not have been a drone that struck the plan at all. In fact, according to Robert Goodwill, the UK’s transport minister, it may have only been a plastic bag.
“The reported drone strike on Sunday has not been confirmed it was actually a drone,” Goodwill told parliament (via The Telegraph). “It was the local police force that tweeted that they had a report of a drone striking an aircraft.”
It seems that no evidence of a drone collision has been discovered, and Goodwill confirmed that “there was no actual damage to the plane.”
“There’s indeed some speculation that it may have even been a plastic bag or something,” he added.
Read more: Flying a drone: Everything you need to know
Mr Goodwill also dismissed calls for tighter controls on drone usage, stating that “this instance that we’ve read about and is alleged were already breaking existing legislation.”
In response to recent concerns over the potential use of drones by terrorists, Goodwill claimed that it was still easier to use traditional car bombs and rucksacks for such attacks.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
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We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.