A British Airways flight collided with an object believed to be a drone Sunday as it prepared to land at London’s Heathrow Airport — commonly reckoned the world’s busiest. It is the first ever reported collision between an airliner and a drone, following a series of near-misses in recent months.

Steve Landells, of the British Airline Pilots Association, said such an incident was “only a matter of time,” the BBC reports.

The British Airway Airbus A320 was en route from Geneva and preparing to land in London when the front of the plane struck an unmanned object. The flight landed safely at Heathrow; no arrests were reported.

U.K. regulators said that anyone flying drones close to airports could expect serious penalties.

[BBC]

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