A drone has seemingly collided with a commercial airplane in Canada, in an incident which sources claim to be the first of its kind in the history of the nation. The news has been confirmed by the Canadian Transport Minister, Mr. Marc Garneau, who took to the media to announce that a drone has crashed into the SkyJet Airlines, while it was about to land at the Québec City Jean Lesage International Airport.
Anonymous sources revealed that the crash would have resulted in grave consequences, had the drone collided with the plane’s engine. On that note, Mr. Garneau was relieved to declare that the crash resulted in minor damage, as the airplane landed safely. According to a report by the public broadcaster of Canada, no passengers on the plane succumbed to injuries of any kind.
This drone-airplane crash incident will apparently prompt Canadian lawmakers to deploy provisional drone guidelines for restricting their usage in accident-prone areas such as airports. Some of these rules and regulations fall along the lines of the norms enforced by the United States Federal Aviation Administration, which has reportedly restricted hobbyists to fly their drones at night or beyond the sight line of operator.
It has not yet been revealed whether the Canadian transportation agency has found the drone pilot. However, reports state that the person responsible for this accident has blatantly violated the drone rules of the country, on the grounds of which he/she is liable for imprisonment or a fine of USD 25,000. In order to investigate this issue further, the air traffic organization of Canada (NAV CANADA), the Jean Lesage International Airport, and Skyjet are working collaboratively with Transport Canada.
This accident has reportedly occurred post the approval of Canadian regulatory bodies for testing of drone delivery systems for commercial application. However, this incident may, in all likelihood, put a damper on the future drone-related projects of companies such as Amazon.