--- title: FAA Says Hundreds of Drones Reported Near Airplanes description: FAA says it gets more than 100 complaints a month canonical: https://time.com/4272868/pilots-drones-airplanes-faa/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-25T21:41:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:31:10.613Z og:title: FAA Says Hundreds of Drones Reported Near Airplanes og:description: FAA says it gets more than 100 complaints a month og:url: https://time.com/4272868/pilots-drones-airplanes-faa/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt516f4346fef514cb/69888c9fcf40a8514fc428d9/gettyimages-473398674.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Quadcopter Drone og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: FAA Says Hundreds of Drones Reported Near Airplanes twitter:description: FAA says it gets more than 100 complaints a month twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt516f4346fef514cb/69888c9fcf40a8514fc428d9/gettyimages-473398674.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Feds Warn Idiots Are Still Flying Drones Near Airplanes  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Mar 25, 2016 9:41 PM UTC  A commercial passenger plane flies overhead as a multirotor quadcopter drone used for aerial photography flies on June 7, 2011 near Zeestow, Germany. (Sean Gallup--Getty Images) A commercial passenger plane flies overhead as a multirotor quadcopter drone used for aerial photography flies on June 7, 2011 near Zeestow, Germany. (Sean Gallup--Getty Images)Sean Gallup—Getty Images  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Mar 25, 2016 9:41 PM UTC More than 100 pilots report drone sightings every month, the [Federal Aviation Administration ](http://www.faa.gov/uas/law%5Fenforcement/uas%5Fsighting%5Freports/)announced Friday, causing significant concern for air safety as drones become increasingly popular. It’s illegal to operate drones around airplanes and airports, the FAA warned, yet the administration has seen a dramatic increase in the number of drone spottings in the last two years. Illegally operating a drone can result in a stiff fine or jail time. The FAA is continuing to try to raise awareness about drone safety through their “Know Before You Fly” campaign. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4272868/pilots-drones-airplanes-faa/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4272868/pilots-drones-airplanes-faa/"},"headline":"Feds Warn Idiots Are Still Flying Drones Near Airplanes","datePublished":"2016-03-25T21:41:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:31:10.613Z","description":"FAA says it gets more than 100 complaints a month","url":"https://time.com/4272868/pilots-drones-airplanes-faa/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Tech","Aviation","Drones","airplanes","FAA"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt516f4346fef514cb/69888c9fcf40a8514fc428d9/gettyimages-473398674.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt516f4346fef514cb/69888c9fcf40a8514fc428d9/gettyimages-473398674.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Quadcopter Drone","caption":"Quadcopter Drone","creditText":"Sean Gallup—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4272868/pilots-drones-airplanes-faa/","name":"Feds Warn Idiots Are Still Flying Drones Near Airplanes"}}]}] ```