Cessna 172 pilot reported a near midair collision with a drone at a distance of 0 feet vertical and ...

Narrative:

Approximately 7 miles east of ZZZ under control of tower; I was approaching ZZZ at 2500 MSL cruise. Directly into hazy sunset. I noticed traffic at 2 o'clock at my altitude. I couldn't immediately make out the type aircraft or distance because of unfamiliar shape of craft. I then noticed that it appeared to be not moving (hovering) as I passed it. Then I realized it appeared to have led navigation lights visible. Then I also realized that it was likely a drone because it didn't look like an airplane or a rotor craft. Then I realized that it was very close because I began to perceive its relative size. I immediately reported it to tower and asked if he saw a drone at my 5 o'clock position. He said no. I wrongly reported it was about 400 yards off my wing. It was more like 400 feet off my wing. I lost track of it as I passed it but I think it was rather large; most likely a commercial size drone. I verified my reporting time by reviewing the transmission recording on ATC-live on the internet and recorded the time and estimated the distance by the fact that I checked on at about 10 miles out and reported 2 minutes later. I would like to know the results of this investigation should there be one. I believe that if this object had been at 12 o'clock instead of 2... I might not have seen it in the glare of the sun until it was too late and that would likely have been catastrophic based on my estimate of its size.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Cessna 172 pilot reported a NMAC with a drone at a distance of 0 feet vertical and 400 feet lateral.

Narrative: Approximately 7 miles east of ZZZ under control of tower; I was approaching ZZZ at 2500 MSL cruise. Directly into hazy sunset. I noticed traffic at 2 o'clock at my altitude. I couldn't immediately make out the type aircraft or distance because of unfamiliar shape of craft. I then noticed that it appeared to be not moving (hovering) as I passed it. Then I realized it appeared to have LED NAV lights visible. Then I also realized that it was likely a drone because it didn't look like an airplane or a rotor craft. Then I realized that it was very close because I began to perceive its relative size. I immediately reported it to Tower and asked if he saw a drone at my 5 o'clock position. He said no. I wrongly reported it was about 400 yards off my wing. It was more like 400 feet off my wing. I lost track of it as I passed it but I think it was rather large; most likely a commercial size drone. I verified my reporting time by reviewing the transmission recording on ATC-Live on the internet and recorded the time and estimated the distance by the fact that I checked on at about 10 miles out and reported 2 minutes later. I would like to know the results of this investigation should there be one. I believe that if this object had been at 12 o'clock instead of 2... I might not have seen it in the glare of the sun until it was too late and that would likely have been catastrophic based on my estimate of its size.

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	1583855
Time
Date	201810
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Private
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 4 Flight Crew Total 1500 Flight Crew Type 1200
Events
Anomaly	Conflict NMAC
Miss Distance	Horizontal 400 Vertical 0

Cessna 172 pilot reported a near midair collision with a drone at a distance of 0 feet vertical and 400 feet lateral.