Posted on 03/31/2025 5:19:45 AM PDT by Red Badger
A United flight collided with a kite as it tried to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in the latest airplane incident at the Virgina airport.
United Airlines flight 654 from Houston was attempting to land before tensions rose as a nearby kite flew 'right into the flightpath.'
'[The kite] was over the park. About 100 feet over the ground. It looked like it's right on the flight path...,' said air traffic control communications with the flight's pilots.
Police responded to reports of a kite flying at Gravely Point, which is prohibited in that area due to the dangers it poses to a low-flying aircraft, according to ABC 13.
Thankfully, the plane landed safely and there were no reported injuries or damages to the aircraft, United said in a statement to the outlet.
'We are aware of reports that a kite struck UA flight 654 from Houston to Reagan Airport in Washington DC,' the statement said.
'The aircraft landed safely, customers deplaned normally and upon inspection there was no damage to the aircraft.'
Authorities say that the kite was returned to its owner shortly after it was seized by officers. No charges were filed.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Trial run?
Paging Charlie Brown - please pick up the white courtesy phone....
How can people be so stupid?
what I was thinking also. a large kite can carry enough C4 to damage a plane significantly and possibly even bring it down.
Trial run? Yes, I agree.
Returned to owners!!!!???!!!
No charges!!!???!!!
You kidding me???
50+ years of public education and unfettered illegal immigration of the worlds most illiterate, that’s how.
From 6 years ago. Interesting read...
https://kitelife.com/forum/topic/9651-apparently-the-faas-5-mile-from-airport-rule-is-a-bunch-of-bs/
Was the kite flyer in this country legally?
No charges ???
Gravely Point sits right at the northern end of the main runway at National. It consists of a boat ramp, a parking lot, and several large fields where soccer is sometimes played. Probably less than three hundred feet separate the boat ramp from the end of the runway. Planes line up along the Potomac to land one after another and fly so low over the boat ramp and field that one could almost hit them with a Coke can. The thrill of seeing such a large object roar so closely over your head is why most people go there.
Same here, except with F-35s, over my house................
A couple things about this don’t sit well with me.
They returned the kite? Just how much of a kite survives a collision with a multi-ton aircraft going 140 kts?
They didn’t arrest the miscreant? Did the at least give him the stink eye and a stern talking to, or did they high five him?
Ditto.
I guess you have to down an airliner to get charged.
If it was a child, what could they do?.................
They poked him with the soft pillows
My thought as well.
Not an arrest, just detained for an investigation. Under a bright spotlight with rubber hoses visible in the room.
Followed by a Federal investigation.
Make it sufficiently uncomfortable that said parent tells everyone she knows to not let their kids fly kites in the glide path. And she tells everyone she doesn't know!
Is airport safety even a thing?
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