Page 19 - Flight Instruments News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Right now. >> announcer: from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news with lester holt." good evening. the summer of dangerous encounters between planes and threats controlled from the ground has seen one more. it happened just this afternoon. a very close call between a drone and an airliner on approach to new york's kennedy airport with 159 people on board. it happened in the most critical phase of the flight. the plane low, traveling around 190 miles an hour, setting up to land when the drone appeared just 100 feet away. nbc's tom costello has late information. ...

>> delta 407. >> yeah, about a mile back there was a drone flying just under the southwest side of this abandoned airport here. >> what altitude would you say that was? >> i would say probably about 100 feet below us. just off the right wing. >> reporter: just 100 feet below an aircraft is considered a very close call. normal separation between an aircraft should be at least 1,000 feet. the tower quickly notified other pilots. >> jetblue 958, use caution for this arrival. the one that's ahead of you reported a join at the floyd bennett field over there. so you might see that. >> reporter: the ...

>> the pilot scrambles to get the motor started. seconds later the engine starts up. >> once he got the plane going again, it was happy times with me. >> but the happy teams don't last. before the brothers can relax, the motor cuts out again. >> you just keep hoping get it started. come, on man. get it start. he looked a little frantic up there. >> this time the pilot can't restart the engine. >> can i see the color. i can see people walking on the sidewalk down there. get it started. desperation set in at that point. come on. get it going. get it going. >> like on cue i'm looking out the wind...

We worked really hard. >> mazur says taplin was worried about leaving the safety of base camp. >> everything started shaking. you know, the mountain was falling down all around us. we got a radio call from base camp, our staff that said base camp had been wiped out and we couldn't find our friend. like an hour later, they found his body. >> reporter: he was one of at least 18 killed at base camp. many others were injured. but most survived. thanks in part to the extraordinary efforts of this swiss pilot. bad weather had grounded every other rescue helicopter in the area. rush was on his own, t...

Tells us how it unfolded. >> reporter: sky west flight 305 was flying normally at 37,000 feet when the pilot suddenly decided he needed to get down fast. flight radar 24 reports the plane descended 24,000 feet in a matter of minutes. passengers say flight attendants first thought they had a sick passenger on board but then said there could be a cabin pressure problem. >> as we were told to keep breathing we suddenly go into a nose dive. that rapid descent was incredibly scary. really felt like we were just driving down, you know, uncontrollably. >> reporter: somehow air traffic controllers got...