Updated April 29, 2026 — CBS San Francisco
A United Airlines flight arriving in San Diego reported a near-miss with a drone Wednesday morning, officials said. Flight 1980, traveling from San Francisco, told air traffic control the crew believed they had sighted a small drone shortly before landing at San Diego International Airport. The Boeing 737 touched down safely and passengers deplaned normally.
A United spokesperson said maintenance crews conducted a thorough inspection and found no damage. The flight was carrying 49 passengers and six crew members.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the aircraft was about 4,000 feet when the pilots reported seeing a possible drone roughly 1,000 feet below. Air traffic control alerted other pilots in the area but did not receive any additional reports of drone sightings. In ATC audio obtained by ATC.com, one pilot told controllers, “I believe I just saw like a red small object, like about a thousand feet below us to our right.”
Operating drones near aircraft or around airports is both dangerous and illegal. FAA rules require most recreational drones to remain below 400 feet and away from airports; violators can face criminal charges and jail time. The FAA says it receives more than 100 reports of drone sightings near airports each month, most reported by pilots. In 2025, more than 1,850 drone sightings around airports were reported to the agency.
Collisions remain rare but have occurred. In 2025 a drone struck a firefighting aircraft during the Palisades Fire, damaging the plane and grounding it. In 2020, an LAPD helicopter hit a drone while responding to a call and made an emergency landing; that operator was later prosecuted in the nation’s first criminal case for unsafe drone operation. In 2017 a drone collided with an Army Black Hawk near Staten Island; there were no injuries.
Kris Van Cleave contributed to this report.