{"id":523130,"date":"2026-06-28T20:28:06","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T20:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/523130\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T20:28:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T20:28:06","slug":"drone-nearly-hits-united-plane-landing-in-newark-pilot-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/523130\/","title":{"rendered":"Drone nearly hits United plane landing in Newark, pilot says"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n A United Airlines passenger jet nearly collided with a drone as it was coming in to land in New Jersey on Friday, its pilot said, the latest in a string of recent aviation incidents<\/a> heading into the Fourth of July holiday.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe almost hit a drone,\u201d the pilot can be heard saying, in air traffic control audio verified by CNN, describing the device as circular and roughly three feet wide, \u201cabout 100 feet below us.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The flight\u2019s crew reported seeing the drone while approaching Newark Liberty International Airport at about 5:20 p.m. ET, the Federal Aviation Administration told CNN. The agency said it is investigating.\n <\/p>\n

\n The Boeing 737, carrying 106 passengers and five crew members from Key West, Florida, landed safely around 5:30 p.m. ET, with travelers exiting the plane at the gate as normal, United told CNN in a statement.\n <\/p>\n

\"RenameThisVertical<\/p>\n

United pilot describes close call with a drone while landing\n <\/p>\n

A United Airlines passenger jet nearly collided with a drone as it came in to land in New Jersey on Friday, according to one of the pilots on board. \u201cWe almost hit a drone,\u201d the pilot can be heard saying, in air traffic control audio verified by CNN, describing the device as circular and roughly three feet wide.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

United pilot describes close call with a drone while landing<\/p>\n

0:36<\/p>\n

\n Another pilot flying into Newark on a United Express flight operated by GoJet Airlines also reported seeing a drone at roughly 2,000 feet, according to air traffic control audio from around the same time.\n <\/p>\n

\n It comes at a busy time for air travel. The Transportation Security Administration expects to screen nearly 18.7 million travelers at US airport security checkpoints over the Fourth of July holiday week, between June 30 and July 6.\n <\/p>\n

\n CNN has reached out to GoJet and Newark airport for more information.\n <\/p>\n

\n There are around 100 drone sightings a month near US airports, according to the Federal Aviation Authority<\/a>, though the agency prohibits the use of drones in controlled airspaces or near manned aircraft without official permission.\n <\/p>\n

\n This year through March, there have been 319 reports of drone sightings by pilots to the FAA, according to the agency.\n <\/p>\n

\n But collisions are rare. In only eight of those reports, pilots reported having to take some kind of action to avoid the object, including descending or turning, and there was only one report of a drone crashing on the runway, at San Carlos Airport in California.\n <\/p>\n

\n In March, pilots at New York\u2019s LaGuardia Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport both reported seeing several unmanned aircraft systems to the agency, according to the FAA reports.\n <\/p>\n

\n As drones increasingly operate in congested areas, airports are using detection technology to track drones in their airspace<\/a>. At a Senate Commerce\u202fSubcommittee\u202fon\u202fAviation, Space,\u202fand Innovation hearing on Tuesday<\/a>, Nevada Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen spoke about the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense developing counter-UAS (unmanned aircraft systems) technologies to dissuade people from flying around airports.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIntegrating UAS safety regulation into all aspects \u2026 whether it through the FAA or other modes and other regulatory frameworks that manage the national airspace, is absolutely integral. There can\u2019t be any loopholes,\u201d former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, the president and CEO of Airlines for America, said at the hearing.\n <\/p>\n

\n Newark airport is also about 15 miles away from East Rutherford, New Jersey, where World Cup matches are taking place. The events are heavily restricted to drone activity, officials have announced<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n In April 2019, flights in and out of Newark were disrupted after reports of a drone flying near Teterboro Airport<\/a>, located about 17 miles away. The reports came from the flight crew of a Southwest flight and of a United flight, the FAA said at the time.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A United Airlines passenger jet nearly collided with a drone as it was coming in to land in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523131,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,61,60],"class_list":["post-523130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}