A commercial JetBlue flight packed with passengers struck a rogue drone at 3,000 feet over New York, exposing a massive failure by federal regulators who have allowed American skies to become a dangerous free-for-all while they focus on censoring Americans online.
The mid-air collision over JFK on Monday—coming just days after a near-miss at Newark—proves the Federal Aviation Administration is failing its core mission to secure our airspace. While the bureaucratic class obsesses over policing online speech and enforcing woke mandates, they’ve let the skies devolve into a Wild West where commercial airliners are sitting ducks for unauthorized drones.
JetBlue Flight 948 from Las Vegas was on its final approach around 7:15 a.m. when the pilot reported the strike. "We collided with a drone back there in the turn as we were coming to ASALT, just wanted to pass to you," the pilot told air traffic control, according to audio obtained by ABC News. When the controller asked for confirmation, the pilot was blunt: "Yep, it hit us right right above the cockpit," the Daily Caller reported.
The Airbus A321 landed safely, and a post-flight inspection found no damage, according to the airline. But a miss of a few feet could have been catastrophic. If the FAA can dedicate vast resources to monitoring what Americans say on the internet, why can't it keep unmanned aircraft from smashing into passenger jets?
The FAA admits it receives more than 100 drone-sighting reports near airports every single month, according to ABC7 New York. They threaten operators with fines and jail time, but the threat is clearly an empty deterrent. The laws are on the books, but the enforcement is absent. The feds are always quick to launch investigations after the fact, but investigations don't stop a drone from breaching a cockpit window.
This wasn't an isolated incident. Friday, a United Airlines Boeing 737 carrying 106 passengers came within feet of a 3-foot-wide drone while landing at Newark. "We almost hit a drone," the United pilot reported, noting the device was "about 100 feet below us," according to the New York Post. Another pilot spotted the same drone at 2,000 feet.
The regulators in Washington want to control every aspect of your digital life, but they can't keep the physical skies safe. The FAA says it will investigate the JFK collision. How many more mid-air strikes will it take before Washington secures the skies over Americans' actual lives?
