Four airline crews report seeing drone near Newark airport Sunday

Bart Jansen | USA TODAY

The crews of four airliners each reported seeing a drone Sunday while approaching Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

None of the flights took evasive action and all landed safely with no delays.

Crews from ExpressJet, Delta Air Lines and two United Airlines flights reported the sightings, which all happened just after noon, at altitudes between 2,000 and 3,000 feet.

"It's terribly frightening that an artificial object like that could get in the way of a major U.S. or international airliner and cause grave danger to lives on board," passenger Jorge Lauro told WNBC in New York after arriving from Portugal with his family.

Drones have been reported around other New York-area airports in the last two weeks.

A pilot reported seeing an unmanned aircraft while approaching John F. Kennedy International Airport a week ago.

On July 31, two planes landing at JFK each reported seeing a drone flying near them. The crew of a Delta flight from Orlando spotted the drone a quarter-mile from the airliner and the pilot of a JetBlue flight from Haiti told the FAA that the drone passed just below the plane's nose while flying about 800 feet in the air.

The FAA requires official clearance to fly within 5 miles of an airport. Hobbyists are restricted to flying less than 400 feet in the air and commercial drone pilots 500 feet, to avoid possible collisions with passenger planes.

Some travelers say officials should make a greater effort to restrict drones around airports.

"I think that definitely it's a cause for concern," passenger Aaron Diskind told WNBC. "You want steps to be taken so that type of thing doesn't happen."