Study confirms small unmanned drones pose increasing risks to aircraft

In late 2017, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released a report detailing the first confirmed midair collision between a small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS) and manned aircraft in the United States. In February 2018, a video of a sUAS maneuvering around a passenger jetliner on approach to a Las Vegas airport went viral on YouTube. Just months later, a helicopter instructor pilot reported performing evasive maneuvers to avoid colliding with a sUAS, resulting in a non-fatal crash. From 2014 to 2018 the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recorded 6,117 reports of near encounters between manned and unmanned aircraft within the