Drone Over Brooklyn? Pilot Reportedly Spots Drone While Landing At JFK

Was there a drone over Brooklyn on Monday? According to the pilot of an Alitalia passenger jet there was.

The Federal Aviation Administration is currently investigating a report that a drone was spotted flying over Brooklyn on Monday afternoon.

According to Gawker, the pilot of the Alitalia jet was recorded saying that he spotted a drone while landing at JFK Airport.

The pilot says: “We saw a drone, a drone aircraft.”

The FAA said that it was investigating the report.

FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said:

“The FAA is investigating a report… he saw a small, unmanned or remote-controlled aircraft while on final approach to Runway 31 Right. The sighting was approximately four to five miles west of the airport at an altitude of approximately 1,500 feet.”

KSAT reports that the Alitalia jet was the only plane to spot the drone over Brooklyn. Air traffic controllers alerted other planes flying into the airport but the other pilots did not see the drone.

Here’s a video about the (maybe) drone over Brooklyn.

The word drone makes a lot of people think about an extremely dangerous unmanned aircraft but that isn’t necessarily what was flying next to JFK. It could have been just about any remote control operated gadget.

But that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t dangerous. CNN reports that recreational aerial vehicles can be extremely hazardous to planes. It is illegal to fly a remote-controlled plane or helicopter above 400 feet. Recreational flyers also need to get FAA approval if they plan to operate their drone within three miles of an airport.

Do you think there was a drone over Brooklyn?

Drones flying in US skies may seem strange now but it could soon be a common sight. They are already used to film sporting events and track wildfires and the FAA is hoping to set up drone test sites in the United States by 2015.