An Envoy Air passenger plane reported striking a drone while departing Chicago’s O’Hare Airport on Sunday, in what is the just most recent incident of uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAV) endangering commercial craft in restricted airspaces around the globe.
Sunday incident comes as collisions and near-misses between drones and passenger planes rise
Sunday’s collision of the Embraer 175 passenger plane and a drone is one of the most alarming in a recent flurry of reported impacts and near-misses. Envoy Air’s flight ENY396 returned to O’Hare shortly after its regular 6:20 p.m. evening departure for Detroit, after pilots reported striking something at 12,000 feet. The plane landed safely with no injury to passengers or crew. Audio files of exchanges with air traffic control that night recorded pilots radioing in the collision shortly after it occurred.
“Departure, Envoy 3961, we just hit something,” a crew member is heard saying. “I believe we hit…
