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?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @07:14AM (2 children)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @08:59AM
I suppose one difference is that the cruise missile has a rocket engine.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday October 17 2017, @04:42PM
Drones carry LiPo batteries, sometimes quite large ones - could be interesting if one ever penetrated wing-skin into the fuel tank.
On the other hand, the total mass and explosive potential of even the largest hobby quadcopters isn't quite the same as a practice sidewinder missile (no warhead onboard), and those have occasionally left the bombing range and gone on to strikes ships and such.
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