Originally Posted by
porcia83
Glad you mentioned birds and balloons, throw grocery bags up there too for good measure. Where are all the near miss reports on those, why isn't the media reporting on that?
Talk about burying heads in the sand, if you don't think that commercial pilots or their unions have ulterior motives...wow.
Are you an airline pilot? I am. ALPA does have safety concerns and every time stuff like this happens it validates those concerns. However, there is not a plot out there by airline pilots to ground R/C aircraft or make false reports about drones. Especially ones from other countries.
My point about the balloons and birds is that it's not difficult to identify things that you encounter in flight. And yes birds and balloons do get reported if the pilot feels there is a potential impact to other aircraft...I.e. the objects are right on the approach. As for drones, I'm pretty sure a Phantom would do significant damage if it during an airliner doing 200-250 kts. That's why it's getting press.