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American Airlines Crew Spotted Drone While Approaching Miami International Airport; Expect Repercussions

by 15 Comments

American-Airlines

The Boeing 737 was making its way earlier this morning from O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, when according to FAA spokesperson Kathleen Bergen the crew spotted a drone 1-2 miles from the end of the runway.

Although no evasive action was required by the plane, the FAA is investigating the incident and politicians are planning stricter regulations on drones.

Local10 reports that Miami-Dade police attempted to find the person who flew the drone, but came up empty handed.

American Airlines spokeswoman Alexis Aran Coello said that there were 113 passengers, one infant and six crew members on board the plane, and that the drone and plane never came into contact (duh…).

Despite the fact that the plane never even had to take any action, you can expect this incident to be used to further regulate drones.

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. is the top Democrat on the Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee, which is in charge of overseeing the Federal Aviation Administration, and he’s set on preventing similar cases in the future.

“Today’s incident is yet another example of the danger drones pose to the traveling public,” Nelson said, adding that “finding a way to implement the technology needed to prevent this kind of dangerous situation near our nation’s airports will be one of my top priorities as we begin work on a bill to reauthorize the FAA in the coming weeks.”

Just a few months ago a near-miss incident was reported at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport between an Airbus A320 and a drone, but despite this and other safety incidents the FAA once again failed to meet the congressional deadline it was given to create drone regulations.

Recently the FAA announced that drones will have to be registered and marked, but that’s not likely to prevent dumb people from doing what they do.

[via Local10 | Lead image by Aero Icarus]

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  • I don’t think they were in a 727 .

  • And I saw the Tooth Fairy at the grocery store.

    Commercials pilots don’t like UAVs because they can take away their jobs. So they take every chance they can to call into doubt the safety of UAVs to the FAA and anyone else who will listen.

    • I’m sorry, but clearly you know nothing about flying. At the speed a commercial airliner flies, a bird or duck can cause significant damage. A drone can smash a windshield or cause an engine failure if it gets sucked in.

      Educate yourself before making stupid, baseless comments. This is all about safety.

    • It is about commercial pilots making up stories to try to protect their jobs and keep competing drones out of the air. Clearly you don’t know any commercial pilots.

    • I bet you also believe EVERYTHING they present on the news and question nothing like a good little sheep.

    • Najib “at the speed a commercial airliner flies ” it would also be every difficult to impossible to spot a small consumer drone. No one saying that “drones” don’t poses a threat to large aircraft, but even the FAA admits that drone sightings are over reported. They’re the new UFO … if you can’t identify it, it must be a drone. So, lets not make mountains out of mole hills. Also, the industry is already addressing this issue with firmware lockouts that don’t let consumer drones fly in no fly zones like airports.

    • DiamondDog

      Its just a matter of time. I hope your family is in the plane when it happens.

    • What a stupid comment! It’s just common sense not to fly a drone that close to any airport. These idiots who do are ruining it for people who are responsible where they pilot their drones, quadcopters and such. Most people who have fun with this sport are responsible. As with so many other things, a few wreck it for the many. The only good and that came of such a stupid comment is you got others thinking and talking about it! LOL! Idiot!

    • Brian, I AM a licensed commercial pilot and also know many others, so quit talking crap. You don’t know sh!t about the subject. Period.

    • Here, Brian, let’s see what Ruben Garay, an airline pilot has to say on the matter…

    • For someone to say that pilots are afraid that drones will take over their jobs is just plain ignorant. Brian, just vote for Trump, you’ll be fine.

  • joe_average

    BS! There is no way you can see any drone at 1-2 miles, even if you know where to look! I can barely see my phantom 3 at a half mile trying to keep it in line of sight.

  • RasterEyes

    1st – Yes I have come across several commercial pilots and FAA officials who LOVE flying their Phantoms. I don’t think there is any vast anti-drone sentiment amongst aviators. Visit the Phantom (and other) pilot forums, they are there, and happy to talk about these issues.

    2nd – I find it ludicrous to believe this “news” article. A jet traveling at that speed at any distance from a sUAV would never be able to visually spot it. The headline indicating that it was in the planes “path” is also misleading as if it had been in the path a path correction action (evasive?) would have to be performed.

    So while I find it hard to believe the airline crew lied about a sUAV being spotted – the whole story smells. I hope an investigator digs deep into this story and finds out what is really going on.

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