The existence of drones has become quite commonplace lately, from everyday civilian use to heavy military use as covered in this HNGN article. On Monday afternoon, however, a Lufthansa plane carrying 108 passengers on board narrowly avoided a mid-air collision with a drone, as the plane was approaching Warsaw's international airport.
A spokesman for Warsaw's airport, Przemyslaw Przybylski, states that the incident happened while the aircraft was flying at an altitude of 2,500 ft. (760 meters), at around 4 p.m. local time. The Drone passed by within 300 ft. (100 meters) of the airplane, according to The Huffington Post.
The Polish Air Navigation Services Agency (PANSA) states that a police investigation is now underway, in order to determine who was controlling the drone at the time. After the near-collision, PANSA promptly modified the landing directions for other planes approaching the area, reports Reuters.
Police and military helicopters were later sent out to investigate the area where the drone was sighted. However, neither the police nor the military was able to spot any trace of the drone.
Bettina Rittberger, a spokeswoman for Lufthansa, describes the incident. "A black object appeared on the right side of the plane" at an altitude of 2,500 feet (760 meters) and that the crew "supposed that this object could be a drone," she said.
"Lufthansa had not encountered a similar situation before," she added.
Despite the near collision however, the Lufthansa aircraft was able to land safely.
