L-Ne · Historical Source Library

News Source Record

# News Source Record

**L-Ne / Open-source news extract** — Original media coverage of unmanned aerial systems.

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Collection date | 7 December 2014 |
| Platform | Quiet Systems |
| Data label | Open-source news record // LRRK collection product |
| Handling | Public-source material. Image rights require separate verification before publication. |
| Scale | National |
| Language | English |
| Terms matched | drone; drones; helicopter-style drone; unmanned aircraft |

## Bibliographic

| Field | Value |
| Outlet | BBC News |
| Title | Heathrow plane in near miss with drone |
| Dateline | 7 December 2014 — Robert Pigott |
| First publisher | yes |
| Original URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30369701 |
| Archive URL | — |
| Dedup key | 2014-12-07|bbc|heathrow-a320-july22-caa-category-a |
| Source grade | A1 |

## Record

**Verified extract — [Fact — A1]** Robert Pigott reported CAA confirmation that an unidentified helicopter-style drone came close to an Airbus A320 on approach to Heathrow at 700 feet, 14:16 GMT on 22 July. The CAA gave the incident an A rating — serious risk of collision, its highest. The drone did not appear on ATC radar and was not identified. In May an ATR 72 pilot had reported a helicopter drone 80 feet away approaching Southend at 1,500 feet. BALPA general secretary Jim McAuslan warned of a Hudson River experience and said the risk of a 10 kilogram object hitting a plane is a real one. UK drone sales were 1,000-2,000 a month. CAA rules cited: no higher than 400 feet, no further than 500 metres from the operator, not within 50 metres of people, vehicles or buildings; exclusion zones around airports for drones over 7 kg.

**Kinematic object.** Unidentified helicopter-style drone near a landing A320 at Heathrow; earlier Southend ATR 72 encounter.

**Coverage frame.** incident / regulatory

## Source integrity

- Why this is treated as an original: BBC first-publisher report of the CAA's Category A confirmation, with BALPA interview.
- Wire reprint status: Not a wire reprint.
- What was excluded: 12 December UKAB 20-foot measurement detail.

## LRRK relevance

Watch / Passport / Control Fabric. Untraced UAV in the approach path; radar-negative; Category A collision risk.

*LRRK — security assurance for systems that sense, move, and act.*

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