Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 70; Flight Crew Total 940; Flight Crew Type 700
Other / Unknown
Conflict NMAC
General None Reported / Taken
Human Factors
I was returning from an instructional flight with a student in a Cessna 172R and descending out of 1;500 FT MSL for traffic pattern altitude 1;199 FT at JYO airport when a personal quadcopter UAV passed us by our left wing within 20 FT at 1;500 FT MSL. We were quite surprised by this and felt safety could have been compromised had this flying device been any closer. The device was between 3-3.5 FT vertical and 2-3 FT in diameter; and looked like a tripod with a fixed rotor attached to the top of it. We filed a report with Potomac TRACON for a near miss with a quadcopter. The conditions at the time were good visibility with clear skies and winds calm. We identified the location at 333 radial from AML VOR at 13.7 NM within the 2;500 FT ring of the Washington Dulles Class B airspace.
C172 instructor pilot reports a NMAC with a UAV at 1;500 FT just north of JYO.