Red and shiny doesn’t sound like a drone to me, more like a party balloon especially at that altitude, yet the 'knee-jerk reaction these days is to blame a drone, with no evidence. Isn’t it about time airliners had dashcams fitted to back up their claims ?
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the pilot is so vague about it too - er er mmm red mmm so small could not tell it was shiny haha
Party balloon for sure as they as there was no damage too.
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At least he’s honest about what he saw/hit; ‘to be honest, it was so small I couldn’t tell’. I do not, frankly, believe a pilot travelling at several hundred mph can identify a small object that is basically stationary in comparison; from his initial awareness of it to it’s dissappearing behind his windows is a very brief operiod of time! Only the reporting has suggested ‘drone’!
A ‘dashcam’ would not be able to distinguish such an object any better, and would need to be a hi-res slow-mo type to do so. Not gonna happen.
Helium-filled party balloon making a break for the border, I reckon! Glad there was no damage to the a/c!
Drone strike would leave a mark.
United Airlines officials confirmed their maintenance team “found no damage after thoroughly inspecting the aircraft”
Red, shiiny. Could it have been the ghost of von Richtofen? Or Rudolf?
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Apparently, the FAA have concluded that no drone was involved and that whatever the object was it was 500’ below the aircraft. As you were, gentkemen, settle down…
Source?
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At about 100m/s on a critical stage of the flight the pilot cannot presume anything. We are talking about a small object whether it was a drone or red balloon or something else (that left no damage!) to travel the length of a football pitch in 1 second. 