Study: It’s Only a Matter of Time Until a Drone Hits a U.S. Airliner

A new report on drone sightings and close encounters with aircraft finds that the proliferation of drones is quickly creating an unsafe environment in the air above U.S. airports.

The Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College collected data from 931 incidents involving drones and manned aircraft in U.S. airspace from Dec. 17, 2013, to Sept. 12, 2015. A close encounter is defined by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as a near collision.

The result of its analysis should trouble American flyers; 327 close encounters took place over 22 months, with 28 encounters that forced an aircraft to change its course to avoid hitting a drone.

“Our findings indicate that incidents largely occur in areas where manned air traffic density is high and where drone use is prohibited,” reads the report. “The locations with the highest number of incidents were large metropolitan areas. Two-thirds of incidents happened between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., local time.”

A visual breakdown of the data shows a steep increase in incidents that coincides with an overall increase in the popularity of drone use in the U.S.