Study: collisions with light drone do not pose a threat to aircraft

A researcher from George Mason University (Virginia, USA), on the basis of a statistical analysis of data on collisions of airplanes with birds , concluded that the rules on handling multicopters near airports are too strict. According to him , the chances of harming the aircraft in a collision with a drone weighing up to 2 kg are very small.

Extensive statistics on the collision of aircraft with birds shows that in most cases, the big trouble for the aircraft are flocks of birds. And only a small proportion of meetings with birds resulted in damage to aircraft, not to mention the harm to human health.
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The base of bird strikes in the United States has been conducted since 1990, and data comes from pilots and management companies on a voluntary basis. A total of about 600 such accidents occur annually, ending with damage to the aircraft. The maximum of 764 incidents was observed in the year 2000.


Number of collisions resulting in damage

At the same time, in the course of 25 years, a total of 238 collisions took place, where the health of people was injured, and only 12 of them resulted in death. During this time, 398 people were injured, a quarter of whom are related to the only incident on the AWE 1549 flight, known as the “ A320 crash landing on Hudson ”. Of the 238 collisions, only 37 belong to commercial flights - despite the fact that about 27,000 commercial departures take place daily.


Landing on the Hudson

On board the AWE 1549 flight, which flew in January 2009, there were 150 passengers and 5 crew members. 90 seconds after takeoff, the airliner collided with a flock of Canadian geese and both engines failed. The crew safely landed on the Hudson River in New York. All on board 155 people (5 crew members and 150 passengers) survived, 5 people were seriously injured (one stewardess suffered the most) and 78 minor ones. There are a total of 11 cases of controlled forced landings of passenger airliners in the water. This case - the fourth, costing no casualties.

Of the 12 cases of collisions of aircraft with fauna, which led to the death of people, only one is associated with a commercial flight - it was a small plane Embraer EMB-120 , which during landing collided not even with birds, but with deer who jumped onto the landing strip. And none of the incidents was related to small birds weighing up to 2 kg.


Ameriflight EMB-120ER Brasilia

As a result of data analysis, the researchers concluded that collisions with a drone weighing up to 2 kg, even if it flies without interruption, will lead to damage to the aircraft only once every 200 million years. In other words, a million copters permanently in the sky will cause damage and injury every 187 years. Compared to current aviation standards, this is a fairly safe situation.

Recently, the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced the need to register Copters weighing more than 250 grams, and already 400,000 owners of these devices have undergone the necessary procedure. According to the results of the study, the management is considering the possibility of increasing the maximum weight of a copter that does not require registration to 2 kg.