We could say that the market for commercial drones, despite its large increase in terms of controllers and units sold, is yet to explode. The best forecasts warn that at the end of this year, the beginning of the next one at the latest, the market will explode so the time has come, at least this is what they have thought in the United Kingdom, from try to understand what kind of problems an accident between one of these drones and a commercial airplane can cause.
It must be taken into account precisely that, if according to the estimates and as we mentioned this is the year in which the sale of drones will increase exponentially, last year they were registered close to 600 incidents between commercial aircraft and drones of which 188 were close to ending in a collision. If the sales figure increases, it is logical to think that this type of incident will also grow compared to previous years.
In the UK they will check the results of colliding a drone with a commercial plane.
Precisely due to the latter, the United Kingdom government has launched a project through which it is intended see the effects that a possible drone accident could have on a commercial airplane, at least and on this occasion it is intended that this accident be controlled. As a detail, tell you that the tests will be carried out by the British Department of Transport and carried out by the military contractor Qinetiq. These tests may not be carried out with the manned aircraft in mid-flight and it may not be a commercial aircraft either, for safety reasons.
Finally, it should be noted that EASA, the European Aviation Safety Agency, published a report a few months ago that talked about the risks of an accident between a commercial airplane and a drone. This report comments that at altitudes below 3.000 meters, a collision would hardly have consequences although possible damage to both the crew and the passengers is not ruled out. Due to this, it is necessary to carry out real tests with which to evaluate the risks more reliably.