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Drone reports by airplane pilots nearly triple over 2014
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) may have loosened up its drone rules, but it'll come down hard on any pilots caught operating them near manned aircraft. The agency said that drone sightings by commercial and private pilots are up nearly triple so far this year from all of 2014, with 275 sightings in June and July alone. One of the more notorious incidents involved a drone operating over a forest fire, forcing water-bomber pilots to the ground. That in turn caused the fire to spread to a freeway, burning several vehicles.
JFK Airport has a drone problem
If you're wondering why the FAA is taking its time approving drones for commercial use, here's a good example. Two separate flights reported near-misses with a drone at John F. Kennedy airport, with one of the pilots saying it came within "several feet" of the wing. Both sightings occurred within minutes of each other, though a sweep of the area by a police helicopter turned up no sign of the rogue device. A Jet Blue crew also reported a drone a few days earlier at JFK, telling ATC "it looks like one of those unmanned drones is flying right on the final (approach)." A drone strike by a passenger jet might not sound like a big deal, but FAA investigators pointed out that one can easily get sucked into an engine and bring an aircraft down.
