Drone flies within “a few hundred feet” of descending Southwest flight

As a Southwest flight began its descent into Dallas Love Field on Friday, the pilot reported spotting a quadcopter drone within "a few hundred feet."

According to the Dallas Morning News, local and federal investigators have begun trying to locate the pilot.

"It was close enough to Love Field that the air traffic controller was able to see it from the tower," Lynn Lunsford, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman, told the newspaper.

The pilot was able to land the plane normally without taking evasive action.

"Our pilots on the flight deck of Flight 28 observed a traffic conflict as they approached Dallas Love Field," Alyssa Eliasen, a Southwest spokeswoman told Ars in a statement. "The flight landed safely and our crew filed a report with appropriate agencies. The Safety of our customers and employees is our top priority and our pilots take this responsibility very seriously."

Both ground units from the Dallas Police Department and its helicopter were dispatched to try to find the drone, but were unsuccessful.

"We’re concerned, because these are easily purchased devices, and they have pretty amazing capabilities," Mark Duebner, the city’s director of aviation, told the Dallas Morning News. "But I don’t think the average person understands the airspace limits around the airport, because they wouldn’t have reason to know them… We need to do some campaigns to raise public awareness, though, because we don’t need these anywhere near the airport."