A321 captain reported encountering a drone while on approach to orlando international airport.

Attributes
ACN	1666942
Time
Date	201907
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	MCO.Airport
State Reference	FL
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A321
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	UAV - Unpiloted Aerial Vehicle
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Conflict Airborne Conflict Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter Unstabilized Approach

Narrative:

On final approach runway 17L at mco; as pilot monitoring; we spotted a drone at our altitude at 1500 feet MSL less than 1/2 mile off to the left; as we approached glide-slope intercept. We were at flaps 2; and would normally have completed configuring the aircraft for landing and would have begun the before landing checklist by 1500 feet. However; we immediately reported the drone to ATC/tower which caused more distractions. Confirming location of the drone and providing a description to tower put us late configuring with gear and final flaps as we approached 1000 feet and began the before landing checklist. We descended below 1000 feet by the time all was complete. Everything appeared stable fairly quickly and the first officer (first officer) made a normal landing. We both agreed after landing; however; that the distractions from the drone and tower communications caused us to configure later than normal and a go-around would have been a better course of action. Distractions from drone and ATC/tower contributed to the incident. Suggest better awareness of altitude on final approach when distractions occur.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A321 Captain reported encountering a drone while on approach to Orlando International Airport.

Narrative: On final approach Runway 17L at MCO; as pilot monitoring; we spotted a drone at our altitude at 1500 feet MSL less than 1/2 mile off to the left; as we approached glide-slope intercept. We were at Flaps 2; and would normally have completed configuring the aircraft for landing and would have begun the before landing checklist by 1500 feet. However; we immediately reported the drone to ATC/Tower which caused more distractions. Confirming location of the drone and providing a description to Tower put us late configuring with gear and final flaps as we approached 1000 feet and began the before landing checklist. We descended below 1000 feet by the time all was complete. Everything appeared stable fairly quickly and the FO (First Officer) made a normal landing. We both agreed after landing; however; that the distractions from the drone and Tower communications caused us to configure later than normal and a go-around would have been a better course of action. Distractions from drone and ATC/Tower contributed to the incident. Suggest better awareness of altitude on final approach when distractions occur.

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.