Close encounters on rise as small drones gain in popularity

Washington Post ^ | June 23, 2014 | Craig Whitlock

[Seizethecarp]

On the same day last month, airline pilots trying to land at two of the nation’s busiest airports got on their radios to report the unnerving sight of small rogue drones buzzing at high altitudes.

In the first incident on May 29, the pilot of a commercial airliner descending toward LaGuardia Airport saw what appeared to be a black drone with a 10-to-15-foot wingspan about 5,500 feet above Lower Manhattan, according to a previously undisclosed report filed with the Federal Aviation Administration.

In the second, two airliners separately approaching Los Angeles International Airport soared past what they described as a drone or remote-controlled aircraft the size of a trash can at an altitude of 6,500 feet, FAA records show.

The close calls were the latest in a rash of dangerous encounters between civilian airplanes and drones flown in contravention of FAA rules intended to safeguard U.S. airspace. Hazardous occurrences are becoming more frequent as more drones — legal and illegal — take to the skies, according to a year-long investigation by The Washington Post:

[Seizethecarp]

Ping to two simultaneous previously unreported apparent drone attacks on civilian airliners on May 29, 2014 which appear to me to fit a terrorist profile.

I have blogged about this type of attack on my blog and on an FR thread:

“Was the Drone/UAV Hovering in the JFK Landing Approach Kill Zone (LAKZ) a Failed Terrorist Attack?”

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3014942/posts

http://runwaykillzone.com/2013/05/02/was-the-droneuav-hovering-in-the-jfk-landing-approach-kill-zone-lakz-a-failed-terrorist-attack/