An illegally operated drone forced two flights to abort their landing at Lisbon’s airport, one of which ended up landing in Oporto.
"We confirm that we received information that a number of pilots reported to the Air Traffic Management Authority that there is a drone approaching runway 3, out of sight of the airport. The situation was communicated to the Police," ANA confirmed.
The Public Security Police Metropolitan Command in Lisbon confirmed that a call had been received at 18:45 on Sunday which reported a drone flying over Avenida Estados Unidos da América in Lisbon, adding that when the police arrived, they did not find anything.
ANA says it had not been necessary to close the airport, but that the incident affected several flights.
"The airport was not closed, however, as a preventive measure, two aircraft were instructed by the control tower to abort their approach, one of which was sent to Oporto", said the ANA spokesman.
Air traffic controllers said that a Ryanair flight from Marseilles was instructed by the control tower to abort its landing when it already was in its final approach. This flight landed safely on the second attempt.
The second flight was an easyJet flight from Paris, which also aborted its landing and was instructed to divert to Oporto’s airport.
Ait Traffic Control said that landings at Lisbon airport "were suspended between 18:40 and 18:52 on Sunday" and that the drone incident "delayed the landing of five more flights."
ANA - Airports said that "All situations that pose a risk to flight safety are considered with the utmost seriousness.”
The Civil Aviation Authority has logged 17 drone incidents near airports since the January 13th laws that prohibited flying drones higher than 120 meters and in the approach and take-off areas of airports.
In July, the Council of Ministers approved a new decree-law that establishes a system of registration for drones and making it obligatory to have civil liability insurance so that when an aircraft full of passengers plunges to the ground, killing all on board, the owner of the drone, should he ever be found, at least is covered by insurance.
This proposed law is in its public consultation phase.
Retired United Airlines captain Ross Aimer, now CEO of Aero Consulting Experts, said that drones could be programmed to stop working above airports, “We absolutely recognise that drones are from on an economy and future business point of view a great thing but people need to use them. Most of the times when reported near to aircraft, people just don’t understand the rules.”
Rolfe added that working with drone manufacturers can be applying “geofences” to drones so they are unable to function as soon as they near commercial airspace.
