Unsafe Warsaw air space: Lufthansa passenger plane could have been the next crash victim

108 passengers and crew onboard a German Lufthansa Regional passenger Embraer jet aircraft could have been dead today after this Star Alliance Member plane narrowly avoided a possible fatal disaster a

108 passengers and crew onboard a German Lufthansa Regional passenger Embraer jet aircraft could have been dead today after this Star Alliance Member plane narrowly avoided a possible fatal disaster and crash with a drone.

It happened during a final landing approach at Warsawโ€™s international airport in Poland. Polish air traffic controller in charge of keeping airspace around the airport safe responded quite apologetic after the Lufthansa pilot in a quiet aggravated tone yelled at controllers alerting them about a nearby collision with a drone.

A radio message recorded from the pilot to air traffic controllers said: “You (Warsaw ATC) should take care of your airspace”, “it is really dangerous”

It happened to Lufthansa Embraer ERJ-195, registration D-AEBD on a flight LH1614 from Munich (Germany) to Warsaw (Poland)on final approach to Warsaw’s runway 33 descending through 2500 feet or 750 meters at ILS DME 6.5nm.

The drone passed in about 100 meters distance. The Embraer continued for a safe landing on runway 33 about 3 minutes later.

No statement was found on Lufthansa’s media web-page and no press notice was sent, but local media in Warsaw were told by Lufthansa officials this version: โ€œA black object appeared on the right side of the plane.โ€
The airline was hesitant to call the object an UAV, but said the crew โ€œsupposed that this object could be a drone.โ€

It was the first time one of its flights had been disrupted by a drone.

More than 20 planes had to be temporarily redirected as airport staff tried to determine the nature of the object, and gauge its direction.

Poland has a ban on using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) within 12 miles of any airport, but Przemyslaw Przybylski, the spokesman for the Warsaw Chopin Airport, the capitalโ€™s main international airport, said authorities had no means of making sure โ€œsome idiot does not suddenly decide to fly a drone in front of a landing plane.โ€

A plane is at its most vulnerable during landing, due to its low speed, and having to re-stabilize itself as it approaches the runway. An impact of a hard object with the engines, or a crash with the cockpit could create a critical situation that the pilots would have no chance of recovering from.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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