Drone to manned aircraft near-collisions encounter reaches 241 cases

There are 241 reports of near-collision encounters between drones and manned aircraft according to a new report released Friday.

According to an analysis conducted by Bard College's Center these close encounters are considered new-collision according to Federal Aviation Administration standard. Fox News has reported that out of these cases, there are 28 incidents where the pilot has to avoid the drone by veering out of its way. Also, 90 of these encounters happened with commercial jets.

In a report by the Aurora Sentinel the FAA's definition of a new midair collision has two aircrafts flying within a distance of only 500 feet to each other. Fifty one of the near-collision incidents had a distance of only 50 feet or less from a drone and an aircraft.

The report by Bard College's Centeris based on government records on 92 incidents that involve drones and manned aircraft dated December 2013 to September 2015. When flying at a high speed, it is difficult for pilots to determine the distance between the aircraft they are flying and another object.

The drone center co-director Dan Gettinger, said, "It's hard to say if or when there might be a drone crash, but certainly we've seen an increase in the number of reports and an increase in the number of close counters."

US News has reported that most of the near-collision cases happened just 5 miles from an airport at over 400 feet. Those distances are prohibited by the FAA for flying drones.

The cities that have the most cases of near-collision encounters are New York/Newark, New Jersey with 86 cases, Los Angeles with 3 cases, Miami with 24 cases, Chicago and Boston with 20 cases each, San Jose, California and Washington with 19 cases each, Atlanta and Seattle with 17 cases, San Diego with 14, Orlando, Florida with 13 cases, Houston and Portland, Oregon with 12 cases each, Dallas/Fort Worth with 11, and Denver with 10 cases.