From the not really coming as a surprise dept. Such a pity the original report came almost perfectly timed to coincided with an FAA UAS meeting and debates in congress. The idea that is was in fact a plastic bag was widely reported last week has spawned many memes on the Book of Face.

British transport minister Robert Goodwill. “The reported drone strike on Sunday the 16th has not been confirmed it was actually a drone,” Goodwill said. “It was the local police force that tweeted that they had a report of a drone striking an aircraft.”

That social media message may have been prompted by fear of drones in response to recent British government reports of near-misses with drones by aircraft around London.

However, there was no physical damage to the Airbus of any kind, Goodwill noted. “There’s indeed some speculation that it may have even been a plastic bag or something,” the transport minister said in a statement. “I’ve not actually landed a 747 at Heathrow, but I’ve landed the simulator and the pilot has a lot of other things to concentrate on. We’re not quite sure what they saw, so I think we should maybe not overreact too much.”