A helicopter crew flying near JFK in New York reported almost hitting a “gigantic RC airplane” a few hours after a Jet Blue crew said a drone hit their aircraft on final. The helicopter pilot told a controller the RC plane was at about 500 feet when he encountered it, and he was specific in his distinction between it and a drone when asked by the controller. “It was just an RC, one of the remote-controlled airplanes, a big one at 500 feet,” he said. Drones and RC aircraft are generally supposed to stay below 400 feet, but there are exceptions to that rule that can allow them to legally fly up to 1,200 feet in areas where the floor of Class E begins at that altitude. It’s not clear if that rule applied in this case. The pilot said he “just missed” the model plane and that he could see others on the ground at the national park that encompasses the former Floyd Bennett Field about 10 miles from JFK. He did not get a good description. The FAA and New York police are investigating.
About four hours earlier, a JetBlue crew reported they’d hit a drone on approach to JFK. “We collided with a drone back there in the turn,” the JetBlue pilot said on the radio. “It hit us right above the cockpit.” The Airbus A321 landed normally and there was no visible damage, but it was taken out of service for an inspection. The collision occurred as the Airbus was descending through 3,000 feet on Monday morning after a redeye from Las Vegas.
Dear Congress and the FAA, we clearly don’t have a system sufficiently safe to allow unmanned things flying around in our airspace. Please act before, not after, scores or hundreds of people are killed by one of these things taking down an airliner.
There is a large and well known RC Airplane Club (certified for jet, gas and electric engine) that operates out of Floyd Bennett Field, using one of the original runways. The NYC Police Helicopter unit is also based out of Floyd Bennet, as was the USCG SAR, before they moved elsewhere. So anybody operating near JFK, should have been aware of flight operations occurring at Floyd Bennett.
Perhaps those pilots should be so aware, but even more importantly, the folks in that club should know AND OBEY the FAA’s rules on their operations, which apparently violated said rules in the described events. The base of controlled airspace over former Floyd Bennett field and where those events occurred is the SURFACE! And that field is 6nm, not 10nm, from KJFK, on my sectional chart.