EMB ERJ 170/175 ER/LR
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Other / Unknown
Conflict NMAC; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR
General None Reported / Taken
Environment - Non Weather Related; Human Factors; Procedure
Passenger reported seeing a large drone flying just near the wingtip of the airplane. Drone was described as 3 feet in length; dark grey in color and spherical in shape. Stated that it had an arm with a camera and a green blinking light and just missed the wing of the airplane on the right hand side. Altitude was approximately 17;000 ft when it was reported to the crew.
The reporter stated his altitude was 17;000 ft when notified by the Flight Attendant about the UAS. The encounter may had been much lower but the report delayed because of the sterile cockpit procedure. The Flight Attendant believed the passenger knew what he was talking about and believed the UAS flew formation with the aircraft which at the time was climbing at 230 kts.
An EMB-175 Captain reported being advised by a Flight Attendant that a passenger witnessed a dark grey; spherically shaped UAS three feet long flew near their aircraft's wingtip at some point during departure.