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Toy Drones Are Serious Risk to Aircraft: Aerospace Firm

The study by Aero Kinetics, a Texas-based aerospace and defense company, examined what might happen when a collision occurs between a toy drone and a manned aircraft, including the potential for damage and death. The study then compared a toy drone strike with historical data on bird strikes, which the report says are proven to cause significant damage to manned aircraft and loss of human life.

Citing figures that bird strikes cost $951,000,000 per year in the U.S. alone, the study concludes that the impact of a toy drone — made of plastic, metal, and engineered materials— with a manned aircraft in a collision would be even more catastrophic.

Between 1990 and 2013, there were more than 70,000 bird strikes with planes during take-off or landing, according to FAA statistics cited by Aero Kinetics.