The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that it had launched an investigation following a report from the pilot of a commercial airliner, while on final approach to land at New York’s JFK Airport, that he had collided with an unmanned aerial vehicle.

“The pilot of JetBlue Flight 948 reported colliding with a drone at an altitude of 3,000 feet (approx. approximately 1,000 meters) while on final approach to John F. Kennedy International Airport at approximately 7:15 a.m. local time on Monday, June 29,” the FAA reported.

For its part, the airline explained that the flight crew on the flight from Las Vegas (Nevada) to New York reported a “possible drone encounter.”

“The aircraft landed without any problems, the passengers disembarked smoothly, and the plane was taken out of service to undergo an inspection” and technical check, it added.

The inspection of the aircraft “revealed no damage,” the FAA and the airline confirmed, noting that no “signs of a collision” were found.

U.S. media outlets, such as a local television station affiliated with the ABC News national network, released a transcript of the radio communications between the aircraft and the control tower.

The pilot said: “I couldn’t speak during the approach, but we collided with a drone.”

An air traffic controller asked in surprise, “Did you say you collided?”

The pilot confirmed: “Yes, it hit us just above the cockpit.”

The FAA clarified that it receives over a hundred reports each month of drones spotted flying near airport facilities.

When asked by Agence France-Presse about previous “encounters” between commercial aircraft and drones, it did not respond immediately.

It has implemented a ban on drone flights around airports, near airplanes and helicopters, as well as at critical locations. Elsewhere, flights of such systems are generally permitted, up to an altitude of 400 feet.

Violators risk heavy fines and criminal convictions, which can result in prison terms of up to several years.

U.S. authorities have made the fight against unmanned aerial systems a central focus of their efforts to ensure public safety during the men’s national team soccer World Cup—spending several hundred million dollars to that end.

By the middle of the tournament, they had detected 1,139 drones in no-fly zones and “neutralized” more than 300, Andrew Giuliani, the White House’s “2026 World Cup” envoy, reported yesterday, Monday.

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Source: APE-MPE