Doubts have emerged over the nature of the object which apparently collided with a British Airways Airbus A320 near London Heathrow.
Minister of state for transport Robert Goodwill told European Union internal market sub-committee, within the upper house of the UK Parliament, that inquiries have yet to support the initial claim of a drone strike.
Although police reported that the crew had suspected a drone was involved, Goodwill told the committee on 21 April: “Early reports of a ‘dint’ in the front of the [aircraft] were not confirmed.
“There was no actual damage to the [A320]. There’s indeed some speculation it may have been even a plastic bag, or something.”
Goodwill was giving evidence to the committee regarding drone safety concerns, following a previous inquiry into the civilian use of drones.
He pointed out that pilots have “a lot of other things” on which to concentrate during a landing approach.
“So we’re not quite sure what they saw,” he said and, as a result, “we should maybe not overreact too much”.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
