Growing Number Of Drone-Plane Near-Misses

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The Mirror reports that British airline pilots have over the first six months of 2016 reported dozens of near-miss incidents with unmanned aircraft. According to the British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA), since the beginning of the year there have been 26 reports of drones getting too close to airlines. In comparison, there have been 29 recorded incidents for the whole of 2015.

BALPA is planning to undertake a major research projects together with defence and aviation experts QinetiQ and with the Department for Transport in order to find out what would be the results of a collision between an unmanned craft and a passenger jet.

“Pilots are concerned about the growing number of near misses and the potential for catastrophe should a collision occur. We need to understand more about the threats drone pose and are working with the Government, regulators and airlines for funding for testing to make the danger clear,” said BALPA general secretary Brian Strutton.

Strutton told the Mirror that so far in 2016 there were 10 times as many incidents than in 2014. In 2013 there were none. “It’s an increasing problem – and not just the number of near-misses but the size of the drones,” he said. “They are definitely getting bigger. Pilots have to take a decision about whether to take responsive action when they see a drone. They have got many other things they are trying to account of as well.”

BALPA hopes the research will shed light on the potential impact of a drone-plane collisions. “There’s lots of information about bird strikes and things like that, but nobody has actually tested what one of these big drones could do,” Strutton said. “We think there are severe under estimates about the dangers of drones.”