Could A Drone Bring Down A Modern Airliner?
In the past, there had been several cases of planes being grounded or diverted to other airports after one or several drones were seen near the airport. There have also been cases of drones crashing against airliners. However, none of the cases ended up being fatal.
The Drone Strike Threat
Drones are a consumer technology that is gaining ground due to many uses that include photography, transporting small items and videography. It is expected that the number of people that are owning drones will continue to increase in the future. The question on everybody’s mind is whether these small gadgets pose any risk to passenger aircraft and what can be done about.
According to Omar Kaddouha, any flying object poses a danger to a plane, whether stray geese, drone or other small aircraft. However, the risk depends on the size, speed and the location where the flying object hits the airliner.
How Do Drones Differ From Birds?
Airliners hit birds all the time. They’re known as bird strikes. In some cases, birds have been sucked into engines. However, since their bodies are made of soft muscle and rather hollow bones, they are just cut into pieces and do not cause any harm to the engine.
Over time, aircraft have been refined and designed to withstand such incidents.
Even at high speed, when they hit the fuselage, they have no impact on the surface of the plane. Therefore, unless the airliner hits a whole lot of them, there is no significant risk to the plane.
On the other hand, drones are mechanical birds made of plastic, metal and glass. They also come with charged batteries. Therefore, they are harder for the engine blades to slice to very small pieces compared to birds.
A few pieces of debris will still be left inside the engine if sucked in. Fortunately, the engines are encased in huge cups that can handle any standard projectile. Therefore, a single consumer drone which is remotely controlled with a drone pilot nearby is less likely to damage an engine.
Besides, if the drone hits the fuselage, it is less likely to tear it apart in a way it can cause cabin decompression.
The Risks
There are still risks when it comes to drones. According to research conducted by Armor Group, it was found that a drone is likely to damage the radar located at the nose tip of the plane if there was a head-on collision at that point.
While it may not bring down a plane, it may cause a significant disturbance. That is why air traffic operators decided to halt flights from landing or departing at Gatwick Airport recently.
Batteries tend to ignite when damaged. If a drone was sucked into a plane and burst into flames, the engine is likely to catch fire. This could cause a passenger jet for instance to crash land or increase the chances of a catastrophic accident.
Larger drones such as the commercial drones might bend the blades if they entered a plane engine. While this may not prevent it from working, it can make it unbalanced and cause it to move back and forth in its capsule. The pilot would feel the impact of the same.
Drones indeed present a risk to airliners. In many cases, they may not bring down a plane or present a significant challenge to the pilots. However, if the conditions are right for fire, or the gadget hits the engine at an angle or high velocity, there is likely to be significant damage that may increase the odds for an accident.
Therefore, it is important that there are regulations in place to minimise the chances of a collision. Drone manufacturers make this clear to drone operators and anyone else who remote pilots a drone.
The federal aviation administration issued Gatwick Airport a 5km drone flight restriction meaning that no one could fly a drone within that area.
