U.S. Passenger Jet Nearly Collided With Drone In March

SonicSpike sends word of an FAA report that a small, remote-controlled aircraft was nearly struck by an American Airlines passenger jet as the jet was preparing to land. The pilot saw it briefly as he flew by — it was close enough that he was sure it stuck the plane, but no damage was found upon inspection. Jim Williams, head of the FAA's drone office, said the incident highlights the risk of ubiquitous, unregulated drone use. He said, "The risk for a small UAS to be ingested into a passenger airline engine is very real. The results could be catastrophic." The article notes that the FAA "currently bans the commercial use of drones in the United States and is under growing pressure to set rules that would permit their broader use. Hobby and many law-enforcement uses are permitted. Last year, the agency began establishing test sites where businesses can try out commercial uses."

Comments

Re:Please, come on

[Anonymous Coward]

This raises a good point, instead of filling the front page with possibly unrelated posts, why doesn't slashdot have a "sticky" posts equivalent which floats at the top as a reminder to an ongoing yet important news story. For example, the Lawrence Lessig Super Pac donation raising story is still very important and needs as much awarness as possible. Just my opinion I guess, let's fix curropt politics & eventually save the Internet ya'll! :) ...

- stoops