Drones have become popular world over,with a whole range of applications. Their usage has become part of the norm with the Military using them in warfare, wildlife services such as the KWS using them to tackle poaching and Internet companies like Amazon using Drones to deliver goods that consumers have purchases. They have been used for rescue activities, where a drone helped rescue two boys from drowning.
In the recent past, drones have come under sharp scrutiny, as they continue to pose serious danger to air travel operations. In one incident in May, a commercial airline almost collided midair with a drone near the LaGuardia airport in New York. Now in another incident, a drone narrowly missed colliding with a Lufthansa plane approaching Warsaw International Airport on Tuesday, in the first incident of its kind. According to AP, the drone passed within 100 meters of the plane, which was about to land from Munich Germany. Poland has strict regulations, that ban the flying of drones in a 20 kilometer radius around airports, which makes this case particularly unique.
Drones are unmanned flying aircraft operated by remote controls, and users do not require any special licenses to operate. Many countries around the world are however beginning to require their registration. Other the possible threats other than collisions posed by drones to aircrafts include damage of critical flight equipment or the drone getting sucked into the engine of the plane, causing a stall as happens with birds. AP reports that polish authorities are currently working to determine who operated the drone, which led to redirection of the flight and 20 more others.
Source: AP
