GB44
Captain
Flight distance : 343848 ft
United Kingdom
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So what comes to my mind is how was the operator allowed to fly so close to Heathrow. Sounds like it may not have been a DJI UAV.
A bird strike on the front a commercial jet at Heathrow caused chaos last month, with many subsequent flights being cancelled. It caused a big dent to the front cowl of the jet, but no one was injured and the aircraft landed safely.
I also note that it was the Police who were investigating the allegation and not the CAA. This is due to the CAA basically washing their hands of UAV non-compliance and breach of regulations as they simply don't have the resources to investigate and prosecute illegal operations. This makes it a little bit of a farce that commercial operators have to submit an Ops Manual to the CAA for approval and license to operate when they don't even police the subsequent operations or non-compliances.
I also note that Australia (CASA) aviation authority is also expected later in the year to release updated and relaxed UAV regulations, not stricter regulation.
What I think is needed is a more cohesive acceptance of regulations across all country aviation authorities in a similar way to how commercial pilots are recognised via the international treaty.
I personnaly don't foresee any increase in UK regulations as a consequence of this latest incident, in fact, I am expecting the CAA in the UK to relax the UAV laws and regulations this year specifically for licensed commercial operators. This hopefully will remove the current 50m safety zone to simply an acceptable and suitable distance to be assessed by the Pilot in Command of the UAV, supported by appropriate risk assessments. This I believe will lead to a more commercially acceptable and workable environment, but does not take away the safety and fact that the operator still needs to undertake risk assessment and prove that the proposed operations will be safe.
The UK as well as other countries have some stringent laws in place now for UAV's, but no rules or regulations will stop the idiot factor.
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