37000 Feet | Browse and search NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System |
|
Attributes | |
ACN | 1287246 |
Time | |
Date | 201508 |
Local Time Of Day | 1201-1800 |
Place | |
Locale Reference | 1I5.Airport |
State Reference | NY |
Environment | |
Flight Conditions | VMC |
Light | Daylight |
Aircraft 1 | |
Make Model Name | Sail Plane |
Operating Under FAR Part | Part 91 |
Flight Phase | Cruise |
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 | Pilot Flying Single Pilot |
Qualification | Flight Crew Glider Flight Crew Private |
Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 10 Flight Crew Total 204 Flight Crew Type 88 |
Events | |
Anomaly | Conflict NMAC Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter Object |
Miss Distance | Horizontal 100 Vertical 0 |
Narrative:
Close encounter with uav sunday 5 miles northeast of windham high peak in greene county new york at about 3;500 feet altitude.I was piloting and had a passenger along for his first flight. We could not see any kind of wings; rotors; or form of propulsion. Unfortunately my camera was stuck in my pocket under tight seat belts and I couldn't get it out while flying the glider trying to avoid hitting this thing.it was about 6 feet tall; 2-3 feet wide. Top of uav was extremely radiant; with black half sphere under the radiant top and what appeared to be an antenna under the half sphere; we watched it skimming over the tree tops below and to the right of our flight path. It was moving at a fast speed southwest toward windham high peak. It had a very sparkling appearance like sun shining on a mirror with rainbow colors. I was flying northeast from windham high peak at about 3500 feet. As we watched the uav I banked to the left and half way through the turn and now pointing at windham high peak; the uav turned around and came toward us at a high rate of speed. As I got 3/4 of the way through the turn was within 50 yards of my right wing; quickly got in front of me and followed me around the turn getting closer until it was off my left wing; probably no more than 25-30 yards away. It covered about 5 miles in just a few seconds. We had a really good view of it.as it got off my left wing; my passenger looked up and saw two more uavs come out of the cloud directly over us. At that point I told my passenger we were returning immediately to the airport; I pushed the nose down and picked up speed. The uavs then headed to the west at a fast speed.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: A pilot flying near Windham High Peak in Greene County New York; at 3;500 feet was approached by an elaborate UAV with a brilliant surface on top of an inverted bowl shaped container with long rectangular antennas protruding downward. The UAV approached; tracked; and flew around the reporter before speeding off toward the west with two other like shaped UAVs.
Narrative: Close encounter with UAV Sunday 5 miles Northeast of Windham High Peak in Greene County New York at about 3;500 feet altitude.I was piloting and had a passenger along for his first flight. We could not see any kind of wings; rotors; or form of propulsion. Unfortunately my camera was stuck in my pocket under tight seat belts and I couldn't get it out while flying the glider trying to avoid hitting this thing.It was about 6 feet tall; 2-3 feet wide. Top of UAV was extremely radiant; with black half sphere under the radiant top and what appeared to be an antenna under the half sphere; we watched it skimming over the tree tops below and to the right of our flight path. It was moving at a fast speed southwest toward Windham High Peak. It had a very sparkling appearance like sun shining on a mirror with rainbow colors. I was flying northeast from Windham High Peak at about 3500 feet. As we watched the UAV I banked to the left and half way through the turn and now pointing at Windham High Peak; the UAV turned around and came toward us at a high rate of speed. As I got 3/4 of the way through the turn was within 50 yards of my right wing; quickly got in front of me and followed me around the turn getting closer until it was off my left wing; probably no more than 25-30 yards away. It covered about 5 miles in just a few seconds. We had a really good view of it.As it got off my left wing; my passenger looked up and saw two more UAVs come out of the cloud directly over us. At that point I told my passenger we were returning immediately to the airport; I pushed the nose down and picked up speed. The UAVs then headed to the west at a fast speed.
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.