A near-miss between a drone and an Air France passenger jet is the latest in a string of recent incidents involving drones flying too close to airports. The Feb. 19 flight from Barcelona to Paris was minutes away from landing at Charles de Gualle Airport when the crew spotted a drone flying beneath them, according to an accident report.
At 5,500 feet above the ground, the copilot noticed a drone directly ahead and disconnected the autopilot, preparing to take evasive action. The crew estimated that the drone passed about 16 feet below the airplane's left wing.
The incident prompted France's first investigation into a drone near-miss, Bloomberg reported. But such episodes are becoming increasingly frequent at major airports across Europe and the U.S.
Drones flew too close to planes on three separate occasions in the United Kingdom last year, according to The Guardian. As a result, the British government is convening public hearings to encourage responsible drone flying.
In the U.S., a drone passed within a few hundred feet of a landing Southwest Airlines jet in Dallas, Texas last June. An American Airlines plane nearly hit a drone in Florida in 2014.
Compared to its British counterparts, the FAA is taking a more forceful stance on drone mishaps and now requires all drones heavier than 0.5 pounds to be registered. Once you pay the $5 fee, you must attach a sticker with a registration number to your drone, which helps identify it in case of a mishap.
To comply with FAA safety guidelines, owners are forbidden from flying their drones within five miles of airports unless the owner notifies the airport operator and air traffic control operator beforehand. Check out our handy guide for a more complete list of the do's and dont's of drone flying.
The FAA is also developing a technology that would analyze radio signals between the drone and its operator in order to figure out who's flying illegally. Such a tool would come in handy in the Paris case, where investigators have not been able to determine who was flying the drone, which was seen only by the Air France crew that nearly hit it, according to Bloomberg.