Airliner collides with drone in Mozambique

I have zero faith in USA Today's articles after the one they posted a few days ago trying to make it look like the pilot of the missing Erie plane drunkingly left his bag/ID at a bar... that one had me seeing red, so I won't click on their articles anymore. But getting off my soapbox and looking up this story elsewhere, it is being suggested only as a potential drone strike. It's not conclusive -

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I know very little about what kind of damage a drone vs a bird strike would cause. Thoughts?

This is the article I found on the incident: http://airway.uol.com.br/boeing-737-colide-com-drone-em-mocambique/

And here is a statement about the incident from the company (had to use Google Translate, so the English isn't that great):

"LAM - Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique, SA announces that the Boeing 737-700 aircraft that yesterday, January 5, 2017, performed the flight TM 136, departing from Maputo at 3:35 p.m. and arriving in Tete at 5:15 p.m. Hours, with 80 passengers on board and 06 crew members, suffered damage on the right side of the front of the fuselage.

The occurrence was confirmed at the routine survey that the crew makes to the aircraft after landing. However, the damage was recorded, very significantly, at the moment that the approach process began, already with the landing lane at Tete Airport. At that moment, the crew heard a crash, which alerted the possibility that the aircraft had contact with an external body that, even then, did not disturb the normal flight to landing. Due to the occurrence a re-engineering was done for the relocation of another aircraft that transported the passengers from Tete to Maputo.
For the Boeing 737-700, action is taken to replace the injured party, as well as appropriate procedures for gender issues with the regulator. While the process of reintegrating the aircraft into normal operation is possible, reprogramming of some of the company's flights may occur."
 
I have had birds do more damage than what is in the above picture.
 
Or someone did a dumb human trick, hit it with something on the ground or something and decided to blame a evil "drone".


Between who's reporting the story and where it took place, yuuuge grain of salt.
 
Must of been a hell of a drone. Noway the normal recreational plastic drones most have did that.
 
I wouldn't expect an impact with a small object (drone, bird, whatever) to do damage over such a large area. Typically, bird strikes leave some blood/guts on the airframe to mark their spot.
 
they'll have to review the tapes from the dash cam to find out what really happened.
 
Looks like it did a decent job to the nose. I had a bird strike a few months ago. Didn't cause nearly the damage as the drone that hit this plane.

IMG_0246_zpsvmoodpri.jpg
 
Zeldman said:
I have had birds do more damage than what is in the above picture.
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Bonchie said:
Must of been a hell of a drone. No way the normal recreational plastic drones most have did that.
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SoCal RV Flyer said:
I wouldn't expect an impact with a small object (drone, bird, whatever) to do damage over such a large area. Typically, bird strikes leave some blood/guts on the airframe to mark their spot.
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This is why I like POA so much. There is more good information here than there are needles in haystacks.
 
Speaking of bird strikes (and in near future drones) what do u do if you are climbing, below 500 feet and see a couple of God made or man made things right in front of the nose? Try a crazy maneuver? Chop it down with props? Jump out and try to remember if u put the chute on?

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
 
Cajun_Flyer said:
as well as appropriate procedures for gender issues with the regulator.
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RudyP said:
I wonder what this is supposed to mean???
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It means that Google Translate is sometimes helpful when translating foreign languages, but sometimes it can't tell a Nockerl from a Nockenwelle. (true story! Couldn't figure out why they had camshafts on the desert menu...)
 
WannFly said:
Speaking of bird strikes (and in near future drones) what do u do if you are climbing, below 500 feet and see a couple of God made or man made things right in front of the nose? Try a crazy maneuver? Chop it down with props? Jump out and try to remember if u put the chute on?

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I just keep going. Most times the birds will realize you're coming and will avoid you. If you change your direction of travel, it will confuse them and you may end up hitting them anyway.
 
Acrodustertoo said:
I bet the stair-truck guy got drunk and bumped it
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I bet the plane taxied into the terminal. It looks like a head on impact, and I think in one picture I see what looks like buckling on the other side of the nose as well.
 
jordane93 said:
I had a bird strike a few months ago. Didn't cause nearly the damage as the drone that hit this plane.
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Since you're making the comparison, what kind of bird did you hit and what kind of "drone" did they hit?

Nauga,
who says "bird is the word."
 
nauga said:
Since you're making the comparison, what kind of bird did you hit and what kind of "drone" did they hit?

Nauga,
who says "bird is the word."
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I have no idea what kind of bird I hit. From the damage it probably wasn't a big one.
 
Cajun_Flyer said:
I know very little about what kind of damage a drone vs a bird strike would cause. Thoughts?
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No blood or feathers unless they cleaned it off. Also it looks like something with hard edges may have hit it, but it's hard to tell for sure.

Edit: Could also be a stair truck like others are saying.
 
Drone strike in Africa the southern hemisphere right side of fuselage. Would a drone strike in the northern hemisphere strike the left side of the fuselage???;)
 
I am the only one to have to google where the hell Mozambique was or is it just my Georgia schooling showing up again?
 
I read it was found out they were below the glide slope and made contact with one of the ILS antenna's, almost landing short of the rwy.
 
cherokeeflyboy said:
I read it was found out they were below the glide slope and made contact with one of the ILS antenna's, almost landing short of the rwy.
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Yeah. Well, the gear would have hit the array first and by the time it got to the nose, the plane would have crashed. This is a non starter unless you posted that tongue-in-cheek.
 
I would go back to the departure airport one to three flights back and check the fuel truck for white paint from a 'drone' strike.
 
Uhh, if it started even one flight with that kind of damage, a LOT of people would have some 'splainin' to do.
 
Greg Bockelman said:
Yeah. Well, the gear would have hit the array first and by the time it got to the nose, the plane would have crashed. This is a non starter unless you posted that tongue-in-cheek.
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Help me understand why you say the gear would have hit first? The only way I can picture that is if the plane was a VTOL type.
 
I have flown a 182 around Mozambique and am surprised anyone would be flying a drone. At one small airport, we had to wake up the airport manager to file a flight plan as he was passed out drunk under the wing of a Citation. After getting him going, he asked to use our phone to call it in since he had no credit left on his.

When leaving South Africa and handed off to the first controller in Mozambique, we never got any response. Not much activity there. I don't think these guys hit a drone since someone would have to be flying it. :)
 
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JOhnH said:
Help me understand why you say the gear would have hit first? The only way I can picture that is if the plane was a VTOL type.
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I'm no expert, but considering a glide path in the vicinity of three degrees, and the fact that the bottoms of the gear are a lot lower than the nose of the aircraft, I don't see how the gear hitting first could be avoided.
 
Whether this flight had a drone strike or not, it seems likely that it's only a matter of time until one happens. As a couple of airliners showed over the Grand Canyon long ago, big-sky theory works until it doesn't.
 
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