I'm not saying that this isn't a concern but can somebody with actual aviation knowledge (I have none) chime in and explain the 230mph figure?
[0] http://www.b737.org.uk/vspeeds.htm Note that numbers are in knots.
I'd be very interested to see a 737 wing being tested like this.
I don’t think the FAA plans everything for the worst possible scenario. The odds of a classic 737 landing at max take off weight and thus high speed are infinitesimally small. I don’t have a landing distance chart but at the max over weight landing it likely can’t even land on 99.99% of runways in the US in that configuration.
If the FAA planned and approved everything at worst case scenario then we wouldn’t fly anywhere.
In US airspace, there's a speed limit of 250 knots (around 290mph) below 10,000 feet. Most light aircraft cruise significantly slower (~140 mph for a Cessna 172) and closer to the ground, whether on approach, takeoff, or other, most aircraft are likely to be going slower than that - so this test is at the high end of that range, even if you add the maximum speed of a DJI Phantom (~40mph) and assume it's flying directly at the aircraft.
Bear in mind though that the under-10,000 ft limit is knots of "indicated airspeed", which is a constant-dynamic-pressure pseudospeed uncorrected for density. 250 KIAS at 10,000 ft is about 290 knots/330 mph relative to the airmass, and sometimes up to 10 kt faster on a hot day.
A drone striking a Mooney at 230 mph seems pretty unlikely. One has to ask what the GA pilot is doing if he’s flying 200 mph at 400 ft or less. It’s not necessarily an unsafe operation but it would definitely be an abnormal operation.
Edit: As pointed out elsewhere the latest DJI Phantom does 40 mph. Updated post to reflect that.