Hold onto your armrests, frequent flyers, because the skies are officially a lawless Wild West! A United Airlines Boeing 737 packed with 111 souls—106 passengers and five crew members—had a terrifying brush with catastrophe as it descended into Newark Airport Friday afternoon. According to hair-raising audio verified by CNN, a pilot’s calm voice betrayed sheer panic as he reported, “We almost hit a drone.” The unauthorized device? A circular, three-foot-wide menace that buzzed a mere 100 feet below the jet—a split-second margin in the high-stakes world of aviation.

This wasn’t some isolated, paranoid sighting. Another pilot, guiding a separate plane into the same airspace, also spotted the rogue drone cruising at a reckless 2,000 feet. The incident, which occurred around 4:20 p.m., has sent the Federal Aviation Administration into a full-blown investigation frenzy. While United’s PR machine churned out the standard “flight landed safely” boilerplate, insiders are whispering about cockpit tensions and the sheer, dumb luck that averted a disaster that could have scattered debris over the Jersey swamps.

Let’s be clear: this is not a minor nuisance. The FAA receives over 100 of these drone-sighting reports near airports every single month, a statistic that paints a picture of terrifying systemic neglect. Who’s piloting these things? Reckless hobbyists? Corporate spies? Malicious actors? The agency warns of fines, criminal charges, and even jail time for unauthorized operators, but where are the arrests? Where’s the enforcement? This near-collision exposes the frightening vulnerability of our national airspace—a place where a $500 gadget from a mall kiosk can threaten a multi-million dollar aircraft.

The flight, United 1513 from the sun-drenched decadence of Key West, Florida, ended with passengers deplaning “normally,” utterly unaware of the doom that had just whistled past their windows. But the question lingers like jet fuel in the humid Newark air: how many more close calls will it take before a drone doesn’t just almost hit a plane? The sky is supposed to be the safest part of the journey, but after this scandalous display of aerial anarchy, perhaps it’s time to consider a train.