Watch out! Cases of drone near
Drones are the new danger in the sky - with as many as 25 close encounters with aircraft across the country each month.
Pilots have reported an alarming spike in near-misses with drones at New York City airports and across the nation over the past year, the feds disclosed on Wednesday.
The Federal Aviation Administration released data on reports by pilots, air traffic controllers and people on the ground describing 193 drone encounters since the beginning of the year.
That includes 12 incidents in New York in which drones zoomed close to either NYPD helicopters or commercial jets flying in and out of LaGuardia, Kennedy and Newark Airports.
'I don't feel comfortable with that, man,' said Chayane Heredia, 22, a restaurant manager from the Lower East Side who was set to fly out of JFK on Wednesday. 'You're already worried about terrorists. You've got to deal with geese that get stuck in the engine. Now you've got to worry about drones - and you don't know who's controlling the drone!'
FAA guidelines bar most commercial drones but allow recreational use below 400 feet and 5 miles away from airports. Apparently multiple drone owners didn't get the memo.
This is particularly true near LaGuardia, which qualifies as a drone magnet with eight incidents.
In July, pilots of two commercial jets reported seeing the same yellow drone as they descended into LaGuardia. One said the thing 'passed just underneath the aircraft,' the other said it came 'within 50 feet.'
On Sept. 8, pilots from three different planes reported 'a very close call' with a drone on final approach there. On Sept. 30, a Republic Airlines pilot reported a red, black and yellow drone 'that almost hit aircraft.'
An NYPD helicopter encountered a drone just south of LaGuardia, reporting that it flew in circles around them at 800 feet.
And that wasn't the NYPD's first drone incident.
On July 7, a 'very fast moving drone' flew at one of their copters near the George Washington Bridge. In May they recovered a drone covering a camera that crashed near Citi Field in Queens.
At Kennedy - where a pilot reported a drone sighting Oct. 10 - travelers already enduring delays weren't too happy to hear about drone near-misses.
'There's a lot of things they don't tell passengers so they have a peaceful flight,' said a former flight attendant who gave her name only as Tamona.
She and other passengers agreed the FAA should get a handle on the situation quickly. FAA officials said they're working on it.
The agency has contacted drone owners to 'educate them' about the restrictions, and are working on a 'plan for safe and staged integration of unmanned aircraft into the National Airspace System,' a spokesman said.
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