Commercial pilot says plane hit by drone over US airport

Los Angeles - A commercial pilot reported his plane may have been hit by a 
drone thousands of feet in the air as he came in to land at a US airport.

Recordings of the conversation between air traffic control in San Diego and
and a United Airlines flight reveal the pilot believed his Boeing 737 could
could have made contact with a small airborne device.

The incident happened around 830 am (1630 GMT), 90 minutes after the plane
plane took off from San Francisco, flying at an altitude of around 3,000 fe
feet.

It was so small I couldn't tell, the pilot told controllers who had asked
asked for more details about the possible drone strike. It was red...it wa
was shiny.

A few minutes earlier, the pilot had radioed the control tower to ask if ot
other aviators had reported anything unusual in the skies.

I believe I just saw like a red small object...about 1,000 feet below us t
to our right, the pilot said.

A spokesman for United Airlines confirmed the potential drone sighting, but
but said it had caused no damage and there were no injuries among the 48 pa
passengers and six crew on board. United flight 1980 reported a potential 
drone prior to arriving in San Diego, a statement from the airlines said.

The flight landed safely, and customers dep[laned normally at the gate. Ou
Our maintenance team found no damage after thoroughly inspecting the aircra
aircraft.

Federal Aviation Authority rules ban the use of drones above 400 feet unles
unless specifically authorized, and operators must avoid restricted airspac
airspace, including that around airports.

Edward Lance Arellano Lorilla

CEO / Co-Founder

Enjoy the little things in life. For one day, you may look back and realize they were the big things. Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.