Drone Narrowly Misses Airplane Flying Into JFK: Report

According to the news website AirLive.net, which monitors radio calls between air traffic controllers and pilots, an airplane descending into the JFK Airport narrowly missed hitting a drone.

Delta Flight 407, which was headed in from Orlando, made a safe landing at 5 p.m.

But before it did, the FAA confirms to Patch that its pilot reported seeing an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), otherwise known as a drone, then the plane was at an altitude of approximately 1,400 feet.

“One of the pilots of DL407 made the near miss aware to the tower controller who immediately began informing other arrivals who were on the same approach,” says the AirLive report.

According to AirLive:

The pilot stated they missed the drone by no more than 100 feet, which is an extremely close near-miss as FAA separation standards call for at least 1,000 feet of vertical separation. At the time of publishing, there are multiple police helicopters in the area looking for the drone in question along with the person or people flying the drone.

The NYPD’s press office says it has not yet been informed of an incident of this nature.

“The pilot did not take evasive action,” says an FAA spokesperson. ”The FAA will investigate.”

UPDATE: Delta spokesman Anthony Black confirms that the DL407 pilot did spot a UAV, but casts doubt on reports that the UAV flew close enough to the plane to nearly hit it.

However, he said, ”We are not an investigatory arm.”