Newark Drone Danger
United Jet Narrowly Avoids Drone During Newark Landing; FAA Investigates Multiple Sightings
Key Points
Newark's airspace is described as among the most tightly regulated in the United States, underscoring how hard it is to prevent drones from operating near busy airports.
Two separate drone sightings occurred within a narrow window in the same airspace, signaling a broader pattern of unauthorized drone activity above Newark.
Altitude reports for the second drone differ: around 2,000 feet in one account, and about 2,500 feet roughly eight miles from the Newark runway in another.
Investigators are actively working to identify the drone operator involved in the Newark incident.
A United Airlines Boeing 737 came within 100 feet of striking a circular drone during its final approach to Newark Liberty International Airport, the pilot reported. The drone, roughly three feet wide, passed below the aircraft as Flight 1513 — carrying 106 passengers and five crew — descended toward the runway around 5:20 p.m. The plane landed safely at 5:30 p.m. and passengers exited normally, according to CNN.
Minutes earlier, a second aircraft — a United Express flight operated by GoJet — had spotted a drone at roughly 2,000 feet, about eight miles from the runway. Two drone sightings in the same airspace within a short window raised immediate alarms. The FAA imposed a ground stop on all Newark arrivals, delaying an estimated 15,000 passengers across the Northeast, according to NBC News.
Two Drones, One Airspace, One Narrow Window
The GoJet crew reported the first drone between 5:00 and 5:15 p.m. at an altitude of 2,000 to 2,500 feet, according to The Wall Street Journal. That is far above the 400-foot ceiling set for hobby drones under FAA rules. Then, just minutes later, the United 1513 pilot spotted a second drone — circular, about three feet across — passing 100 feet below the 737's belly during final approach.
The back-to-back sightings in the same corridor suggest more than one operator was active that evening. Newark sits inside Class B airspace — the most restricted airspace category in the United States. Flying a drone there without air traffic control approval is a federal offense, according to FAA.gov.
FAA Shuts Down Newark Arrivals, Search Begins
The FAA ordered a ground stop shortly after 5:30 p.m., holding inbound flights at their departure airports. The stop lasted roughly 45 minutes before controllers lifted it around 6:30 p.m. Even a short halt like that costs airlines millions in fuel, crew time, and rebooking, according to the investigative briefing. Port Authority Police and the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force launched a ground search in the Newark and Teterboro area to find the drone operator.
FAA spokesperson Greg Martin confirmed the agency is working with law enforcement to "identify the operator." Martin stressed that flying drones near airports "is not only illegal but carries significant criminal penalties" — federal fines up to $25,000 and prison sentences of up to 20 years, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Why a Three-Foot Drone Can Bring Down a Jetliner
Aviation safety expert Kevin Murphy put the danger plainly. "A three-foot drone hitting a jet engine at 200 knots would be catastrophic — it's not like a bird; it's plastic, metal, and lithium batteries," he told Reuters. Unlike birds, drones do not compress or disintegrate on impact in the same way. The lithium battery alone can ignite a fire inside an engine.
The FAA logs more than 100 drone sightings near airports every single month — a 300% increase from five years ago, according to FAA data. Many drones that end up in restricted airspace are custom-built "racing" models that bypass the geofencing software built into consumer brands like DJI, according to Wired. That makes them almost impossible to detect on standard ATC radar, which is designed to filter out small objects.
Congress Eyes Mandatory Drone Tracking After Newark Scare
The Newark incident is adding fuel to a push on Capitol Hill for stricter drone rules. Members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee are calling for mandatory Remote ID — a system that works like a digital license plate, broadcasting a drone's location and owner in real time. "We cannot wait for a mid-air collision to act," one committee staffer told Politico.
The Air Line Pilots Association called for tougher enforcement and more prosecutions to deter reckless operators. Drone advocacy groups, including the Academy of Model Aeronautics, backed stricter enforcement of existing rules but warned against broad new bans that would punish law-abiding hobbyists. No arrest has been made. Investigators are still working to identify who flew the drones over Newark that evening.
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