TEXAS (REUTERS) - A small drone flew within a few hundred feet of a Southwest Airlines flight about a mile (1.6km) from Love Field on Friday as the passenger plane was about to land at the Dallas airport, the US Federal Aviation Administration said.

Southwest Flight 28 landed without incident and the pilot did not need to take evasive action to avoid the quad-copter, FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford said.

"A controller in the Love Field Air Traffic Control Tower spotted the small, unmanned aircraft from the tower cab and notified the Dallas Police Department," Lunsford said.

The FAA and Dallas police said they are investigating the incident to determine who was flying the drone.