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posted by Fnord666 on Monday October 16 2017, @08:32PM   Printer-friendly
from the smashing-news dept.

A Canadian passenger plane landed safely after it was hit by a drone in the first case of its kind in the country, a cabinet minister said Sunday.

With increasing numbers of unmanned aerial devices in the skies, collisions are still rare, but authorities around the world are looking at ways to keep jetliners out of harm's way.

The Canadian incident happened last Thursday when a drone collided with a domestic Skyjet plane approaching Jean-Lesage International Airport in Quebec City, Transport Minister Marc Garneau said in a statement.

"This is the first time a drone has hit a commercial aircraft in Canada and I am extremely relieved that the aircraft only sustained minor damage and was able to land safely," said the minister, a former astronaut.

The aircraft, carrying six passengers and two crew, was struck on its right wing at an altitude of about 450 meters (about 500 yards) and roughly three kilometers (two miles) from the airport, according to Le Journal de Quebec newspaper.

Well, don't keep us in suspense! Who won, the locomotive or the bumblebee?


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  • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Monday October 16 2017, @09:56PM (4 children)

    by MostCynical (2589) on Monday October 16 2017, @09:56PM (#583185) Journal

    It seems anything that isn't obviously a "traditional" remote controlled 'plane or helicopter is now called a drone by reporters.

    Actual drones like the Reaper or Predator may not have civilian transponders, but should be large enough to show on radar, of they are flying in designated flight paths.

    Quad/hexa/octocopters are usually pretty small, and probably won't show up on radar.
    Flying even at approach speed, coming in to land, it is completely believable the pilots didn't see it until just before they hit it.
    There are already pretty severe penalties for flying rc craft near airports - if they catch you.

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Arik on Monday October 16 2017, @10:15PM

    by Arik (4543) on Monday October 16 2017, @10:15PM (#583188) Journal
    "It seems anything that isn't obviously a "traditional" remote controlled 'plane or helicopter is now called a drone by reporters."

    And anyone who can type is a "hacker." And anyone who's been spectacularly and consistently wrong on a subject for at least a decade is an "expert."

    There are actually a handful of real reporters left in this world. Let's not insult them by using the same term to refer to the stenographers with which they've been mostly replaced.
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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday October 16 2017, @10:38PM (1 child)

    by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Monday October 16 2017, @10:38PM (#583198) Homepage

    People who fly RC craft near commercial airports are fucking douchebags who should be strung up in a noose with a quadcopter large enough to dangle their hanging body 10 or so feet off the ground and around the airport perimeter as a warning to others who are considering trying to get close to commercial aircraft with their own drones.

    Don't get me wrong, I love flying drones and shooting the shit with the old-skool RC plane guys (we have a facility in Lakeside dedicated to RC, BMX-style dirt racetrack for cars and a proper runway and helipad for airplanes and helicopters/modern quadcopters) but as with a lot of cool hobbies you get those 1 or 2 dickheads that fuck things up for the rest of us.

    We should be able to fly RC aircraft without having to pay out the ass for licensing and registration, but you bet your ass that's exactly what will happen if dickheads keep flying near commercial airports or higher than the legal ceiling (400 ft there, because a lot of smaller aircraft including stunt planes also fly in that airspace, albeit at a higher altitude).

    Finally, I don't know shit about military drones but I am going to assume that the Predator and Reapers have civilian transponders(or a "civilian" subsystem in their military transponders) they can shut off in combat or other surveillance situations.

    • (Score: 2) by Weasley on Tuesday October 17 2017, @02:33PM

      by Weasley (6421) on Tuesday October 17 2017, @02:33PM (#583473)

      I wouldn't exactly say two miles is "near" to the airport. Sure, it's near for a jet, but it's not near in the sense you used it.

  • (Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Tuesday October 17 2017, @09:08PM

    by Joe Desertrat (2454) on Tuesday October 17 2017, @09:08PM (#583664)

    Flying even at approach speed, coming in to land, it is completely believable the pilots didn't see it until just before they hit it.

    Even if they did somehow spot it, chances are it would be too late to react in any way that would not bring about worse consequences.