Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Mysterious "drone" spotted at New York JFK airport (video)

The pilot of a commercial jetliner spotted a drone aircraft hovering near his plane as he landed at JFK Airport yesterday, according to sources.

The Joint Terror Task Force is now probing the sighting of the mysterious flying object, the sources said.

The Alitalia pilot spotted the unmanned craft — described as “a black drone” — hovering just 200 feet from his jet about three miles east of the airport as he made his approach from Brooklyn.

“He was very clear as to what he saw,” a source said.

The pilot told investigators the object was flying at about 1,800 feet and looked like “a black drone about a meter square, with helicopter rotors on the corners.”

“It didn’t require the pilot of the jet to take any evasive action, and it didn’t interfere with the aircraft,” a source said.

The pilot landed safely.
The JTTF launched a full-scale criminal investigation shortly after the 1:15 pm sighting, sources said. The FAA is also investigating.

While sources said there is a good chance the “drone” might have been operated by a model-aircraft enthusiast, it was still the first time veteran observers at JFK could remember one getting so close to a plane.

“In all the years I’ve been with the airport, I can’t remember a similar incident,” one investigator said.

“Whether this is a hobbyist or not, it raises serious concerns.”


Source: New York Post

No comments: