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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: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @07:26AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @07:26AM (#583355)

    Can we please get rid of the word "drone"? I suggest we replace them with "toy quadcopter" and "flying landmine", so people (including reporters) can tell the difference.

    The Danish version of this article actually ends with claiming that drones can do a lot of damage to planes. Even though every single one of the quadcopters that have been hit (or claimed to have been hit) so far have done less damage than a freaking duck. But still the article is absolutely correct in claiming that a drone can do a lot of damage to a plane. The plane doesn't even need to hit the drone, the person operating the drone just need to hit the wrong button when "missile lock" lights up.

    The word "drone" does nothing but confuse both readers and reporters, because it doesn't tell us which of the two distinct categories we are talking about.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @08:57AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @08:57AM (#583374)

    Can we please get rid of the word "drone"?

    So what do you suggest we should call male bees? ;-)