First drones, now a landing plane has been hit by a firework

This is getting ridiculous. It was bad enough when idiots were interfering with commercial airline pilots by shining laser pointers at their windows on approach.

Then recently we had the attack of the drones.

In late June, there was a near miss involving a United flight trying to land at Newark Liberty International Airport. A pilot reported to air traffic control, “We almost hit a drone about 100 feet below us.”

a close up of a flying object in the sky

Another pilot in a separate plane reported seeing that drone flying about 2,000 feet, far higher than one should be flown and certainly not near one of the busiest airports in the nation. The drone was said to be about 3 feet wide.

Days later at nearby JFK International Airport, a drone actually hit a JetBlue plane attempting to land. The collision happened around 3,000 feet, again, a far greater altitude than a drone should be flown. The pilot managed to land safely.

The FAA says it is receiving more than 100 reports of drone sightings near U.S. airports every month. Which is scary enough.

Justin Sullivan, Getty Images

That brings us to the Fourth of July in Chicago at Midway International Airport.

A Delta pilot landing his aircraft says he was struck by a firework about 200 feet above the runway.

“We just had a firework hit our plane,” the pilot of flight 1076 told air traffic controllers. “We’re just hoping it was just a mortar that went off underneath but definitely felt a big bang.”

a fireworks is lit up in the night sky

The plane landed safely and was later found to have paint damage and Chicago Police say the plane was indeed struck. There were multiple reports of fireworks going off right near the airport, which is why Chicago PD got involved.

Isn’t flying stressful enough? Now we have to worry about drones and fireworks? Thanks, idiots.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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