Drone nearly hits United plane landing in Newark, pilot says

A United airplane prepares for landing as the New York City skyline stands in the background at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) in Newark, New Jersey, U.S., on Wednesday, April 12, 2017.

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.

“We almost hit a drone,” the pilot can be heard saying, in air traffic control audio verified by CNN, describing the device as circular and roughly three feet wide, “about 100 feet below us.”

The flight’s 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 the incident.

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.

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.

CNN has reached out to GoJet and Newark airport for more information.

Drone reports around US airports

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

This year through March, there have been 319 reports of drone sightings by pilots to the FAA, according to the agency.

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.

In March, pilots at New York’s LaGuardia Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport both reported seeing several unmanned aircraft systems to the agency, according to the FAA reports.

As drones increasingly operate in congested areas, airports are using detection technology to track drones in their airspace. At a Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Aviation, Space, and Innovation hearing on Tuesday, 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.

“Integrating UAS safety regulation into all aspects … whether it through the FAA or other modes and other regulatory frameworks that manage the national airspace, is absolutely integral. There can’t be any loopholes,” former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, the president and CEO of Airlines for America, said at the hearing.

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.

In April 2019, flights in and out of Newark were disrupted after reports of a drone flying near Teterboro Airport, 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.

Karina Tsui, Diego Mendoza, Elise Hammond, CNN