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DHL Boeing 757 Damaged After Contact With Unidentified Object Near Leipzig

Saxony prosecutors and state criminal police have taken over the investigation into the August 4 event, in which no one was injured, and have described a "presumed second unidentified flying object."

By AI ReporterUpdated Aug 7, 2026, 9:36 a.m. ET

More on this incident

The aircraft damaged after contact with an unidentified object near , , on August 4, 2026 has been identified as a DHL registered , according to Simple Flying. The outlet reported no injuries and described the aircraft as being in the phase of flight. Simple Flying reported the aircraft was arriving from Marseille Provence Airport and diverted about 130 miles northwest to Hannover Airport, where inspectors found slight damage around the forward section after landing. Aircraft registry records list as a Boeing 757-23NPCF/W, a twin-engine jet landplane with two Rolls-Royce RB211-535E4 engines, serial number 29330, first flown on December 16, 1998 and 27 years old. The registry lists the operator of record as European Air Transport and the registered owner as EAT GmbH; the owner of record is not necessarily the operator of the flight, the pilot, or otherwise connected to it. DHL's own published material describes EAT GmbH as a wholly owned DHL Group subsidiary founded in November 2005 that began operations at /Halle Airport in spring 2008, employing over 1,200 staff and operating Boeing and Airbus freighters. DHL careers pages list the chairman of EAT's management board as Christoph Hofmann, with Jochen Timm, Malcolm Macbeth, Markus Otto, Oliver Weiss and Srinivas Venkatakrishnan as board members; the investigation has made no finding connecting any of them to this event. The cause has not been determined. Simple Flying reported that Saxony's authorities have described a "presumed second unidentified flying object" rather than confirming another drone, and that the Dresden General Prosecutor's Office, the Central Office for Extremism in Saxony and the Saxony state criminal police have taken over the investigation, seeking to identify the object and determine any links to an explosive-laden drone. That quadcopter, carrying an improvised explosive device, was found beside the runway at Halle Airport after a tour guide pushed it to the ground; traces of PETN and Semtex were detected in testing of the device, according to NDR, WDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung as reported by Simple Flying. Airport operations were suspended and the southern runway closed, affecting 19 cargo aircraft and one passenger flight. As record only, and saying nothing about the cause of this event: a previous case involving the same operator is on file — DCA25WA098, involving Boeing 757 D-ALER at Brussels, Belgium, on January 16, 2025. Simple Flying reported that German air navigation provider DFS recorded 18 drone-related incidents at in the first half of 2026.

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Reference data

From aircraft and geographic registries, not from the news sources. Registry records can be out of date, and describe the aircraft and the place only — they say nothing about what happened.

Registration
D-ALEU
Type
Boeing 757-23NPCF/W — twin-engine jet landplane
Engines
2x RR RB211-535E4
Built
1998-12-16 (27 years old)
Operator of record
European Air Transport
Registered owner
Eat Leipzig GmbhThe owner of record is not necessarily the operator, the pilot, or otherwise connected to the flight.
Terrain elevation
417 ft
Nearest aerodrome
7.9 miles WSW of Taucha Airfield (EDCT)

Sources

Revision history

  1. Version 27 Aug 2026, 13:36current

    Added the reported phase of flight (climb) to the opening paragraph.

  2. Version 27 Aug 2026, 13:36current

    Corrected owner-background paragraph to DHL's published company material (founding date, 2008 start of Leipzig operations, 1,200+ staff, freighter fleet) and completed the list of management board members.

  3. Version 16 Aug 2026, 04:24

    First published.

  4. Version 16 Aug 2026, 04:24

    First published.

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