Hacker Read

TillE | karma 15387 | avg karma 3.69 · 2016-04-21 17:19:29+00:00

"there was no actual damage to the plane and there's indeed some speculation that it may have even been a plastic bag or something."

This is an amazingly flimsy basis for a headline.

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dingaling | karma 8000 | avg karma 2.45 · 2016-04-21 18:43:22+00:00

No flimsier than the original drone-claim headline.

Contrary to popular conception, most airline pilots are very poor at recognising anything that isn't in their company fleet. A few are aircraft enthusiasts, a few are bird spotters. The remainder have knowledge of unexpected flying objects no better than most laymen and a lot worse than a school-age plane spotter.

I used to run aircraft recognition training for a local cadet squadron. The 'pro-pilots' were uniformly awful.

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fabulist | karma 790 | avg karma 2.04 · 2016-04-21 21:14:17+00:00

Aren't they trained to judge size and distance by eye, though?

andygates | karma 699 | avg karma 1.37 · 2016-04-22 08:15:05+00:00

This is a moral panic! Flimsy is rock-solid compared to satanic abuse rings and penis thieves.