Drone Comes Within 200 Feet of Airliner Near LA Airport

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Drone Comes Within 200 Feet of Airliner Near LA Airport

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES — Mar 18, 2016, 9:25 PM ET

A drone came within 200 feet of hitting a Lufthansa jet near Los Angeles International Airport on Friday — the latest run-in between aircraft and the increasingly popular unmanned flyers.

The pilot of a Lufthansa A380 approaching the airport reported that a drone passed about overhead around 1:30 p.m., said Ian Gregor, spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.

The plane was flying at 5,000 feet and was about 14 miles east of the runway. It landed safely.

A message to Lufthansa seeking comment was not immediately returned.

Police and Los Angeles County sheriff's helicopters were asked to keep an eye out for the drone but there was no immediate word about where it was launched or landed.

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Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/drone-200-feet-airliner-la-airport-37766266

[Ilsa]

1. When someone's drone causes a jumbo jet

To crash, killing 300-400 people, I hope to see a long prison sentence for the owner/pilot.

How do we know Daesh wouldn't do this herr?

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

2. How long before a pilot license equivalent is required to fly a drone?

Also a small transponder to track it?

These guys are digging their own graves. And this is from someone who is a licensed pilot and just bought his first "trainer" drone.

Drone laws are going to start showing up on the books, both statewide and nationally. While it's highly unlikely a small drone could bring down an A380 (they shoot everything but a cow through those engines when they're testing them), all it takes is one plane going down in the center of Los Angeles to ruin everybody's day.

[davidpdx]

8. All it would really take is getting sucked into an engine

or hitting the side of the airplane hard enough to put a whole in it. It is scary as shit. I'll be flying into Vancouver BC and then Portland in late June, then back through Vancouver to Seoul in early July.

[rjsquirrel]

3. An A380 holds up to 800 fucking people

Last edited Sat Mar 19, 2016, 12:14 AM - Edit history (1)

Holy shit.

[Ghost Dog]

5. No joke.

(But, you do realise what mental images your comment could conjure up, right?)

[Hekate]

4. When these came out and were marketed as marvellous toys, I cynically said ...

What could possibly go wrong?

There were no laws or regulations on the books -- but I predicted there would be fairly soon, especially as one of the first things some idiot did was fly his "toy" into the path of firefighters in a California wildfire. California uses aircraft a lot in wildfire situations, not just people on the ground. News crews have some sense of professionalism and would never get underfoot -- but not this guy.

I really really think drone ownership should be treated like owning any other piece of potentially dangerous-to-the-public equipment like a car, motorcycle, or airplane.

[Archae]

6. Except was this a drone?

On ABC news they said other pilots saw balloons at that altitude.

[yortsed snacilbuper]

7. SkyWall100 Drone Defence System - A Man Portable and Cost Effective Counter Drone System