Two frightening encounters with unauthorized aircraft near New York's airports in a single day have renewed concern about drones sharing the skies with passenger flights. In the first, a JetBlue pilot reported that his plane had struck a drone at nearly 3,000 feet on approach to John F. Kennedy International Airport. Hours later, a helicopter pilot reported a near-miss with what was described as a large remote-controlled plane, underscoring how often these devices are turning up where they should not be.
The JetBlue incident happened on Monday morning, when Flight 948, inbound to JFK from Las Vegas, struck the drone at around 3,000 feet as it crossed the coastline over the beach community of Seabright, New Jersey. The pilot radioed air traffic control to report the collision, saying the drone had hit the aircraft right above the cockpit. The plane landed safely at JFK, and JetBlue said there was no damage and no evidence of a collision, with the Federal Aviation Administration now investigating. Even so, the report rattled those familiar with how a single drone strike at altitude can threaten an engine or a cockpit.
The second scare came not long after, when a helicopter pilot reported nearly colliding with a remote-controlled aircraft. The pilot described it as a big RC airplane flying at around 500 feet over the Floyd Bennett area, noting that the object did not appear on radar. The account added to a growing sense that the airspace around the city is increasingly crowded with craft that controllers cannot track.
The problem is far from isolated. Just days earlier, a United flight reported nearly hitting a drone at Newark, with a crew member saying it passed about 100 feet below the aircraft. The Federal Aviation Administration says it receives more than 100 complaints a month about unmanned aircraft flying in places where they are not supposed to be, and each report adds to the challenge facing pilots and air traffic controllers who must navigate busy approaches into some of the nation's busiest airports.
What makes the situation especially dangerous, aviation safety experts note, is that drones cannot be detected unless they are physically seen. Because of their weight and the limited equipment they carry, the devices do not carry transponders, the systems that allow aircraft to be identified and tracked. That blind spot makes it all the more important, experts say, that no one operates a drone in the wrong place, particularly near an airport and certainly not at 3,000 feet.
There are also serious legal consequences for those who do. It is a federal crime to interfere with the operation of an aircraft, with penalties of up to 100,000 dollars, and flying a drone near an airport is considered exactly that kind of interference. The FAA encourages anyone who witnesses someone flying a drone where it does not belong to report it, as authorities try to keep the skies over New York safe heading into a busy summer.