The Civil Aviation Authority has confirmed that the Metropolitan Police are investigating a possible incident with a drone at Heathrow airport. This follows reports that a drone smashed into a passenger plane.

The A320 aircraft was landing at Heathrow when it collided with a flying object thought to be a drone. It is illegal to fly drones within the flight space of an airport without permission.

Commercial aircraft collide with birds often with them being destroying on impact. But the metallic drones could pose more of a threat to the aircraft.

This is not the first time drones have been sighted buzzing around airports. An A380 spotted a drone near Heathrow last October while another plane spotted a drone near London City airport.

Drone manufacturer DJI introduced a geofencing system last year which stops its devices from straying into registered airspace. This information can be continually updated to avoid collisions like this from happening.

Brendan Schulman, DJI’s vice president of policy and legal affairs said: "Our years of actual user experience have shown that in most instances, strict geofencing is the wrong approach for this technology, and instead we are helping operators make informed, accountable decisions."

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