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Some Jerk's Drone Almost Hit A Jet Trying To Land At LAX
A Lufthansa flight was about to land at LAX when a seriously idiotic drone almost hit it. (Photo by Matthew Dillon via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr)
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Can we cool it with the drones already?City News Service reports that a drone nearly collided with a jetliner that was about to land at LAX this afternoon.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, a drone passed 200 feet above a Lufthansa A380 jetliner approaching Los Angeles around 1:30 p.m. The plane was at an altitude of about 5,000 feet when it almost crashed into the plane, which was set to land shortly at LAX. FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said LAPD air support was immediately notified, but did not spot a drone themselves.
The L.A. Times reports that police and sheriff's department helicopters were headed to the area to try and locate the drone pilot, but the odds of finding them aren't very good. According to ABC-7 authorities were searching 14 miles east of the airport.
The FAA prohibits drones and model airplanes from flying higher than 400 feet or within 5 miles of an airport, and violators can be fined, or have their drone usage suspended. In September, the L.A. Times wrote that there were 200 reported incidents in which drones nearly crashed into planes in California since 2014. 200! In Los Angeles, violations are quite strict: you could get $1,000 in fines and six months of jail time for flying higher than 500 feet, within five miles of an airport or within 25 feet of another person drone operators.
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This incident is just one of many in which drones have wreaked havoc on our skies (not counting this very different kind of drone). In August, a drone crashed into an LAPD helicopter searching for a fleeing suspect in East Hollywood. Before that, a drone nailed a medical helicopter that was in the middle of transporting a patient to the hospital. And this other time, when a fisherman wound up snagging a drone instead of potential dinner. Oh, and this case, in which authorities offered $75,000 for catching the jerks who flew drones during a wildfire in July.
Is this annoying, dangerous behavior really worth capturing footage for horribly soundtracked #dronefootage videos? No. It's not. Except for this one:
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