NASA · Aviation Safety Reporting System
Air carrier flight crew reported an NMAC with a UAS during descent on approach. No evasive action was taken.
What is ASRS?
The Aviation Safety Reporting System is NASA's voluntary, confidential, non- punitive incident-reporting system, established 1976. Pilots, controllers, dispatchers, and maintenance technicians file reports describing safety- relevant events. NASA de-identifies every report before adding it to the public database. Reports are not investigated by NASA, the FAA, or the NTSB — they represent the reporter's perspective.
Pilot narratives
Verbatim from the de-identified NASA record. First-person account by the
reporter. NASA strips identifying details (names, company, specific time);
anonymization placeholders are ZZZ,
X, Y.
Reporter 1
While descending on the BENKY6 Arrival through approximately 5,700' MSL, I noted what I believe was a black drone underneath our path by about 400' or so, just beyond the MONKZ waypoint. I brought the sighting to the attention of the Captain; however, it had already passed below us before he was able to identify it. Nothing further out of the norm was experienced and we proceeded to operate our follow-on leg without further incident.
Reporter 2
While on downwind to runway 28C in ORD, we saw a Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). We were flying the BENKY6 arrival and were at approximately 6,000' MSL, in a descent to 5,000' MSL around waypoint MONKZ. It appeared to be approximately 500' below us along our path. I didn't see it but the First Officer did. The rest of the approach was uneventful. After landing we had to wait approximately 45 minutes for a gate.
NASA classification — Anomalies
- Airspace Violation
- Conflict
- Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural
NASA classification — Assessments
- Contributing Factors / Situations
- Environment - Non Weather Related
- Primary Problem
- Environment - Non Weather Related
ASRS reports are voluntarily submitted, de-identified by NASA, and represent the reporter's perspective. The presence of reports on a topic cannot be used to infer prevalence in the National Airspace System. The authoritative source is the NASA ASRS Database Online at asrs.arc.nasa.gov ↗.