UK: Jet incident near Heathrow did not involve drone

British Airways’ plane collision with unidentified object follows string of near misses in the United Kingdom

The British government said Thursday that a British Airways jet reported to have hit an object as it came in to land at Heathrow Airport this month did not strike a drone as first thought.

The pilot of the flight from Geneva reported a collision as the plane was approaching the airport on April 17, and police said it was believed to have hit a drone.

The incident sparked calls for tighter controls on unmanned aerial vehicles.

But Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin told lawmakers Thursday that it is now thought the incident did not involve a drone.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch said it had ended its investigation. It said “we made initial inquiries but there was insufficient information on what object was involved for us to take it further.”

The UK Airprox Board, an air safety agency, said last month there were 23 near-misses between drones and aircraft in the six months between April and October last year.

In one incident on September 22, a Boeing 777 reported narrowly passing a drone as it was taking off.

Investigators concluded that the drone was at the same height as the aircraft and within 25 meters of it.

A drone then came within a few meters of an Airbus A319 landing at Heathrow only a few days later on September 30 last year.