An instructor with his flying student was entering a 45 degree left downwind for pao runway 31 at 1;...

Narrative:

I was acting as a CFI on a training flight with a student returning to our home base pao when we flew past a drone in the traffic pattern. My student was flying. We were entering the left downwind for runway 31 at pao from a standard 45 degree entry when I spotted an unmanned drone 2-3 feet in size at our altitude; which was the standard left pattern altitude for 31 at pao. We passed within approximately 100 feet of the drone and took no evasive action. It appeared to be hovering with no discernible motion. My student indicated that he did not see it. There were no prior traffic advisories from pao tower or pao ATIS regarding the drone or drone activity in the area. I reported the drone to pao tower and tower made a broadcast to all aircraft of our drone report.by the time I saw the drone and recognized it as such; we had nearly flown past it. Such a small vehicle is difficult to spot until very close in. I usually focus on traffic scanning at distances that are further away. I had recently attended a meeting at pao for cfis where reports of nearby drone activity was mentioned and I think this helped me recognize it as a drone more quickly. Some pilot awareness of local drone activity may help facilitate close-in visual scanning and faster recognition of these small vehicles. Legislation requiring firmware in these commercially manufactured drones that prevents operation outside of the FAA limits would improve safety. The distribution of information to drone purchasers regarding local flight restrictions; airport locations; etc. May also help prevent this incident from occurring. To put this event into some context; bird activity also creates hazards at pao and I have had several near collisions with birds there and elsewhere flying over many years. However; birds usually dive out of the way while the drone did not. This drone also likely weighed significantly more than a bird.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An instructor with his flying student was entering a 45 degree left downwind for PAO Runway 31 at 1;000 FT when he detected a UAV about 2-3 FT wide; approximately 100 FT beneath his aircraft.

Narrative: I was acting as a CFI on a training flight with a student returning to our home base PAO when we flew past a drone in the traffic pattern. My student was flying. We were entering the left downwind for runway 31 at PAO from a standard 45 degree entry when I spotted an unmanned drone 2-3 feet in size at our altitude; which was the standard left pattern altitude for 31 at PAO. We passed within approximately 100 feet of the drone and took no evasive action. It appeared to be hovering with no discernible motion. My student indicated that he did not see it. There were no prior traffic advisories from PAO tower or PAO ATIS regarding the drone or drone activity in the area. I reported the drone to PAO tower and tower made a broadcast to all aircraft of our drone report.By the time I saw the drone and recognized it as such; we had nearly flown past it. Such a small vehicle is difficult to spot until very close in. I usually focus on traffic scanning at distances that are further away. I had recently attended a meeting at PAO for CFIs where reports of nearby drone activity was mentioned and I think this helped me recognize it as a drone more quickly. Some pilot awareness of local drone activity may help facilitate close-in visual scanning and faster recognition of these small vehicles. Legislation requiring firmware in these commercially manufactured drones that prevents operation outside of the FAA limits would improve safety. The distribution of information to drone purchasers regarding local flight restrictions; airport locations; etc. may also help prevent this incident from occurring. To put this event into some context; bird activity also creates hazards at PAO and I have had several near collisions with birds there and elsewhere flying over many years. However; birds usually dive out of the way while the drone did not. This drone also likely weighed significantly more than a bird.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1284007
Time
Date	201507
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	PAO.Airport
State Reference	CA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Small Aircraft
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	None
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	UAV - Unpiloted Aerial Vehicle
Route In Use	None
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Instructor Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Flight Instructor
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 25 Flight Crew Total 1000 Flight Crew Type 250
Events
Anomaly	Airspace Violation All Types Conflict NMAC Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural FAR
Miss Distance	Horizontal 100 Vertical 5

An instructor with his flying student was entering a 45 degree left downwind for pao runway 31 at 1;000 ft when he detected a uav about 2-3 ft wide; approximately 100 ft beneath his aircraft.