Homeland Security warns of possible drone attacks
NEW YORK (WTVD) -- The Department of Homeland Security has warned police of possible drone attacks after three were spotted at JFK Airport in New York.
The latest sighting on Sunday was within 100 feet of a landing aircraft.
The memo from Homeland Security came soon after a report warning that drones could be used in terror attack on United States soil.
No specific security threat is mentioned but pilots are having troubling encounters.
It's against the law to fly a drone, even a recreational unmanned aircraft, over an airport, but it happened twice on Friday.
A JetBlue pilot said he saw a drone 100 feet from the cockpit.
The Department of Homeland Security alerted law enforcement that there have been 500 drone incidents since 2012.
An intelligence assessment said that drones can become a terrorist weapon. Recently, a Connecticut college student and his dad rigged a drone with a semi-automatic rifle, calling it a flying gun.
Aviation experts said drones that fly too close to commercial flights can be sucked into the engine and destroy it. Or a drone could crash into a cockpit window.
Security experts warned of the possibilities if someone intentionally used a drone to attack a plane.
