There were frightening moments for not one, but two flights getting ready to land at Newark Liberty International Airport, after two pilots confirmed seeing a drone.
A recording from ATC.com shows the following exchange between the pilot of United Airlines flight 1513, which was heading to Newark from Key West, Florida:
Pilot: We almost hit a drone right there at… United 1513, about 100 feet below us.
Tower: Right where you’re at now?
Pilot: Exactly.
Tower: Okay, and United 1513, did you get a look at it? Do you know the color or any, how much propellers or anything like that, whatever they’re called?
Pilot: yeah, it was, it was like circular shape, that was about it. Looked like it was about three feet wide.
Moments after the United flight saw the drone Friday afternoon, a second pilot confirmed its own sighting
“one mile to the right of us.” The FAA is investigating.
The agency gets more than 100 drone-sighting reports near airports each month. It says flying a drone so close to aircraft is not only dangerous, but illegal.