Originally Posted by
Squawk_ident
From BEA today:
During the approach in downwind leg for runway 26L at an altitude of 5500 ft and a descent rate of about 1000 ft per minute, with a speed of 220 kt and heading east, the first officer ( FP) sees a drone in its 11 oclock. He disengaged the autopilot and makes a flexible resource while informing the captain of the presence of the drone. The captain saw the drone and estimates he spends about five meters below the left wing of the aircraft. The crew informed the ATC of the presence of the drone. The crew re-engages the autopilot and continues the approach.
A typical hobby drone is not at all easy to see at 100metres distance even if you know where it's supposed to be, and one capable of lifting 1kg of camera and telemetry isn't much easier mainly because it dispenses with pretty bodywork and is just a bare frame. 220kt is 113metres/sec. To identify the object and take the actions reported means astonishing reaction times.
I have a half share in one of each, and we are working on getting our licences to fly them commercially. Ground school and exams done, ops manual and flying tests (full test for each of us with each of the aircraft) to go.
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