Dubai International Airport briefly grounded all air traffic on Friday after unauthorized drones were seen close the airport. The closure was temporary, only lasting just below half-hour between 10:13 a.m. and 10:45 a.m., per a Recent York Times report.
Dubai’s state media office later tweeted that each one activity had resumed as normal after the roughly 28-minute closure:
Dubai’s airport is the third largest on the earth, and the largest to see its operations stymied by drones encroaching upon its airspace. Three other airports, the U.K.’s Gatwick and Heathrow, and Newark International in Recent Jersey, have all experienced the sudden grounding of flights as a result of unauthorized drone activity in recent months. The case of Gatwick was especially prolonged and fraught, with 140,000 passengers missing flights because the military moved in to corral the rogue UAV.
Two suspects were detained for allegedly operating the Gatwick drone, but were later released with no charges. Authorities have made no other arrests in regards to the other episodes, with some police even questioning whether there was actually a drone at Gatwick.
The difficulty has highlighted the fragility of major airports when presented with unauthorized drones. Dubai International airport, positioned within the United Arab Emirates, is the third largest on the earth, with an estimated 90 million passengers traveling through it this yr, per the Dubai’s media office. Up to now, no suspects have been apprehended, and Dubai’s media office maintains “that flying drones without obtaining permission is subject to legal liability as per UAE laws.”
Drones present obvious safety concerns: The opportunity of a disastrous crash is probably going with unauthorized drones hovering above a tarmac, with air traffic controllers and pilots unable to predict their movements or perhaps even see the rogue aircraft. Though no drones have brought down any business aircraft thus far, various studies probing the impact of such a scenario have offered calamitous results.
Source: The Recent York Times