BERLIN/WARSAW A Lufthansa stunt plane with 108 tourists on the boat almost collided with a drone mainly because it came to Warsaw’s most important flight terminal on Monday evening, to the tune of said on Tuesday.
Advertisement
The plane flying in from Munich on Monday was at an altitude of around 700 metres (2,300 feet) when the pilots spotted the drone, but it did not interfere with the landing.
The plane carrying about 100 people still landed safely, but air traffic controllers directed 20 other planes to land at a different entry lane, according to Spiegel Online.
A drone had a near-miss with a plane at Heathrow Airport last July that resulted in calls for tougher regulations of the booming UAV sector as well as stricter requirements for their operators.
The AP quoted Lufthansa spokeswoman Bettina Rittberger as saying that the German carrier has never been involved in such an incident before and that the airline was unable to say with certainty that it was indeed a drone.
Remote-controlled drones have been growing in popularity in recent years, and in Poland they are low-cost and easy to acquire.
Police are investigating, a PANSA spokesman said.
In Poland, drones are cheap and easily available.
“Lufthansa had not encountered a similar situation before”, she added. It said helicopters and an air force plane flew over the area where the drone appeared but did not find it.
Germany in June introduced new rules that prohibit the use of drones within 1.5 kilometers of airport perimeter fences.
Advertisement
Monika Scislowska contributed to this report.
