A packed United Airlines Boeing 737 with 106 passengers and five crew members on board narrowly avoided colliding with a drone as it made its final approach to land at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) on Friday.
The incident involved United flight UA-1513, which was in the final minutes of a 2-hour and 45-minute flight from Key West, Florida.
United Airlines B737 MAX 9 flight 1513, arriving at Newark Liberty from Key West, pilot reported a near collision with a drone when approaching the airport.
— Turbine Traveller (@Turbinetraveler) June 27, 2026
📹: ATC App pic.twitter.com/js1vZIDBaj
As the 27-year-old Boeing 737 was in its final approach to land on Runway 22L, the pilots reported to air traffic control: “We nearly hit a drone… about 100 feet below us.”
At the time, the aircraft was flying at just 2,300 feet, according to data supplied by Flight Radar 24. The pilots later described the drone as a relatively small, circular device, just three feet in diameter.
Although the size of this drone might sound harmless, a collision at high speed could be enough to cause serious damage to one of the plane’s engines at a critical stage of flight, or even smash the cockpit windscreen.
Last October, a tiny weather-measuring device, which detached from a high-altitude balloon, smashed into the windscreen of a United Airlines aircraft as it flew at 36,000 feet above the state of Utah.
The Captain noticed a small object flying towards the aircraft just moments before the device collided with the windscreen with such ferocity that it caused both the outer and inner panes of the windscreen to shatter, showering the Captain with broken glass and leaving him bloodied.
Thankfully, a middle pane of smash-resistant material withstood the impact, and the structural integrity of the windscreen wasn’t compromised.
The manufacturer of the weather measurement device, Windborne, said the device was 2x lighter than previous models and had been designed specifically with this type of accident in mind. A much larger device, such as a drone, could cause a lot more damage.
A spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the agency would investigate the drone incident at Newark, adding in a statement: “United Airlines Flight 1513 landed safely at Newark Liberty International Airport after the crew reported a drone sighting while on approach.”
United Airlines confirmed that the pilots of flight UA-1513 reported a “possible drone sighting.” A spokesperson added that passengers deplaned as normal on arrival at Newark Liberty.
In August 2023, an Emirates Airbus A380 superjumbo allegedly hit a large drone as it was coming into land at Nice Côte d’Azur Airport on the French Riviera.
Although the pilots were unaware of any issues at the time, a post-flight inspection by engineers revealed damage to at least one of the slats on the right-hand wing of the massive double-deck aircraft.
Drones have become an increasingly worrying headache for airlines and airports, and irresponsible drone operators have caused entire airfields to shut down due to the risk they pose to aircraft.
Larger, military-style drones have also caused headaches for a number of European airports since late last year, with sightings causing massive disruption.
A growing number of airports have sophisticated drone detection systems, but these cannot disable or take down drones.
