Posted on 04/29/2026 9:56:47 AM PDT by rdl6989
A United Airlines flight reportedly struck a drone midair over San Diego early Wednesday — as the pilot’s alarming message to air traffic control surfaced online.
The Boeing 737, identified as flight 1980 from San Francisco, hit the object at roughly 3,000 feet, according to an air traffic control recording posted to X.
The pilot is heard saying the aircraft “hit a drone,” describing it as small, red and shiny. No injuries have been reported.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Hope it wasn’t one of the AG drones stolen from NJ. That won’t buff out.
Not to mention if it had hit the cockpit window...........
Is 3,000 feet high for a toy drone?
Nothing much WILL buff out at several hundred mph.
Yes, I think 300 feet above ground level is the max legal for something like a hobby drone.
I don’t think so. Too bad they aren’t AI equipped to prevent these things. Because AI knows EVERYTHING. Right? Hello? Bueller?
Tiny drone vs massive jetliner, won’t probably even need buffing.
legal...........LOLOLOLOLOL!
That was Rudolf.
I have only toyed with drones. I have a DJI that I have used for “area surveillance” and drone video. The DJI’s come with the FAA limits as part of the controller/comm link software so that they will not fly above 300 ft AGL or into ‘prohibited areas’ like airports or jails/prisons. I have never tried to jack the system or test it against prohibited areas. I have tried to fly as high as it will let me and it pretty much stops at 300 ft.
Except for departures and approaches to airports, most air traffic is not supposed to fly below 500 ft AGL (obviously some exceptions like crop dusting), so the 200 ft safety buffer avoids conflicts.
Sadly, there are plenty of ner-do-wells that could hack them and break the rules.
Test run. The next one will have explosives.
Wild guess - Iran, or affiliated. Testing the feasibility of taking down an airliner with it.
Apparently you've never had a bird come through the windscreen.
Nobody listens until they see the damage to the plane.
William Shatner calmly tried to alert them.
United Airlines? I surprised the crew didn’t beat up a passenger in anger over the drone.
“Apparently you’ve never had a bird come through the windscreen.”
Almost had a buzzard cone through one time. I didn’t know I could fly a 172 like an F16.
It almost certainly was at least an airspace violation. San Diego is Class B (controlled) airspace and for the better part the SoCal TRACON goes from the ground to 10,000 feet.
https://aeronav.faa.gov/visual/05-14-2026/PDFs/San_Diego_TAC.pdf
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