The new British fad that has caused ruckus after ruckus at London's major airports has made its way over to the US; New Jersey's Newark airport was disrupted on Tuesday night due to a rogue drone flight.
The initial report of two drones, which was later clarified to two reports of the same drone, grounded all flights at the airport which serves over 43 million passengers a year.
According to reports, the drones weren't actually spotted at Newark, instead, they were found flying at around 3,500 feet near the smaller Teterboro airport which is located circa 15 miles north of Newark at 5pm.
Air traffic control transcripts acquired by CBS read that the rogue drone came within 30 feet of a flight:
"There's something flying here, we thought it might be a drone. There is definitely something there."
"Yes sir, it definitely looks like a drone... We missed the drone about 30 feet away from the right wing."
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey confirmed later on Tuesday that flights had begun to resume by 7pm.
FAA rules prohibit flying drones within five miles of airports unless one acquires permission the airport operator.
The FAA also recently passed laws that allow drones to be shot down. Measures that can be taken against drones include "reasonable force, if necessary, to disable, damage, or destroy the unmanned aircraft system or unmanned aircraft". The same act also gives agencies the authority to wiretap all unmanned aircraft regardless of size.
The annoying craze has really taken off in the UK as of late. A drone sighting at Gatwick grounded flights for over a day back in December, leaving over 100,000 passengers stranded just days before Christmas.
This, as well as another drone flight invading Heathrow's airspace a few weeks later, prompted the UK government to expand its drone exclusion zones from 1km to 5km.
