Drone forces major runway closure

A runway at the United Kingdom’s second busiest airport, Gatwick, had to be closed after a drone was spotted flying nearby. The disruption led to several flights having the land over a hundred kilometres away. The incident, while highly inconvenient, fortunately did not result in a catastrophic mid-air collision.

As reported in the Guardian, the incident had passengers on one flight that was diverted to Standsted, and saw them voting on whether their plane would return to Gatwick or they would be forced to disembark there with at least one person reporting that they were concerned that the situation was going to “turn into Lord of the Flies”.

A spokesman for Gatwick airport said: “Due to reports of a drone observation in the vicinity of the airfield, runway operations at Gatwick were suspended between 6.10pm and 6.19pm and again from 6.36pm to 6.41pm, resulting in a small number of go-arounds and diverts. Operations have resumed and the police continue to investigate.”

Unfortunately incidents involving drones are becoming more common. The problem is becoming severe in the UK with 70 incidents reported at British airports in 2016, and 33 so far in 2017, according to the UK Airprox Board – a safety body jointly funded by the Civil Aviation Authority and the Ministry of Defence. Incidents involved drones far exceed those of ballons and modle aircraft.

In Australia, the rules governing the use of drones are outlined by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), and one of their stipulations is that “You must not fly within 5.5 kilometres (3 nautical miles) of a controlled aerodrome-one with an operating control tower.” One would have thought that not flying near an airport would have been common sense, but in the UK, that’s evidentially not the case.

To help make things easier for drone operators in Australia, CASA has streamlined and simplified flying regulations, and recently they introduced an app to guide the public where it’s safe to fly. The app, Can I fly there?, has been welcomed by professional and hobby drone pilots.