Alitalia pilot reports ‘drone’ sighting near JFK Airport

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a drone!

That, at least, is what a pilot for Italian airline Alitalia swears he saw hovering near his plane during a landing at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport on Monday afternoon.

The pilot told investigators the apparent unmanned aircraft looked like a “black drone” and was "about a meter square, with helicopter rotors on the corners,” according to the New York Post.

The unusual sighting four to five miles southeast of the airport has sparked an investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration and the Joint Terrorism Task Force, ABC News reported.

The FBI is also “taking a preliminary look into this incident,” ABC said.

“In all the years I’ve been with the airport, I can’t remember a similar incident,” one unnamed investigator told the Post. “Whether this is a hobbyist or not, it raises serious concerns.”

 More from GlobalPost: The Drone Wars

Sign up for our daily newsletter

Sign up for The Top of the World, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.