Drone incident

According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), all inbound and outbound flights to Newark Liberty International Airport were halted when two drones were seen flying close-by on Tuesday evening. The drones were seen flying at an altitude of 3,500 feet (!) over Teterboro Airport, which is about 15 miles north of Newark Airport. These drone sightings follow only weeks after both Gatwick and Heathrow Airport in the UK were temporarily closed because of alleged drone sightings.

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The Severn Bridge that connects England to Wales was shut down earlier today after a man had climbed the bridge to fly a drone from the top. The drone incident follows the Gatwick Airport drone fiasco that took place right before the Holidays.

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Hopefully, the drone chaos at Gatwick Airport will now have come to an end with the arrest of two people in connection with the ‘criminal use of drones’ which affected at least 120,000 people on Wednesday and Thursday. According to the Sussex police, a man and a woman were apprehended by officers in the Gatwick area around 10 PM on Friday.

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Drones have caused chaos for many thousands of holiday travelers at London’s second-busiest airport. Officials of London’s Gatwick airport have said that 110,000 passengers and 760 flights are scheduled today. However, because of the multiple drone inferences currently, none of these flights can take off or land. The first delays caused by the drones happened late last night. Normal flight operations resumed around 3 am, only to be halted again an hour later when a drone was seen again.

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Last week crew members of a Boeing 737 passenger jet that was making its approach in Tijuana, Mexico, heard a “pretty loud bang.” Based on the photos of the damage to the commercial airline, it was speculated in the local media that the damage may have been the result of a drone collision. However, today we learn from the Aviation Safety Network that “there is no confirmation or evidence yet that a drone strike actually took place.”

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Crew members said that they heard a “pretty loud bang” shortly before landing. In photos from the local press, significant damage to the nose of the Boeing 737 passenger jet is visible. Grupo Aeromexico SAB started an investigation whether a drone had indeed collided with the passenger jet as it was approaching its destination in Tijuana, Mexico.

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A drone that was flying at around 600-feet and within two miles of the runway, caused the Wellington Airport in New Zealand to temporarily shut down, causing flights to be delayed. The drone incident took place on October 11th, 2018 when a pilot spotted the drone as he was getting ready to take off with an airplane carrying 300 passengers. The shutdown lasted 40 minutes.

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The crew from a Delta flight reported seeing a drone near Boston Logan International Airport. According to the Boston Globe, the crew spotted the drone about 15 miles northeast of the airport late Wednesday morning, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The Delta flight was on its way from Philadelphia and proceeded to land safely at Logan Airport. Officials said that the crew did not have to take any “evasive action” because of the drone. The drone appeared to be flying much higher than the 400 feet altitude limitation set by the FAA.

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The man who flew his Phantom 4 illegally in restricted airspace close to Yellowknife Airport, has been fined $3,000 CAD and is grounded for three years. The drone pilot had pleaded ignorance of the drone rules four times. This led to the judge saying that she had difficulty accepting the plea bargain that was proposed by both the prosecution and the defense, as we reported earlier.

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Admittedly not as crazy dangerous as the video with the helicopter (or other drone incidents) that we showed recently but still, drone videos like these show why stricter drone rules, remote id, and better education for drone pilots are needed to keep the airspace safe for everybody. Somebody by the name of ‘GS Wing Nut’ uploaded two videos to Youtube that show a manned aircraft, a Cessna according to the uploader, fly-by closely at dusk. The first video is named DJI 0679 and shows the airplane flying into view, the second video, DJI 0680, clearly shows the manned aircraft flying by at some distance. Both videos were uploaded yesterday.

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During the last two weeks, the video we reported on earlier, in which a DJI Phantom 2 is ‘fired’ at an airplane wing of a Mooney M20 aircraft during tests performed at the University of Dayton Research Institute’s Impact Physics Lab was picked up by major news channels, including CNN. The tests were designed to mimic a midair collision at 238 mph between a drone and an aircraft, however many people have pointed out that the test did not resemble a real-life situation and made it seem that drones are more dangerous than they really are. Now, DJI has responded to the test video as well and demands the video to be taken down. See their official press release below.

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Investigations are ongoing after drone near miss at Albury Airport in England last Wednesday afternoon. A passenger jet with 62 passengers on board approached Newquay Airport in the UK when it narrowly missed a drone. The drone incident showed a ‘complete disregard for human safety’ according to the police.

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Tests performed at the University of Dayton Research Institute’s Impact Physics Lab show that even the impact of a small drone, like a DJI Phantom can have severe consequences. The tests were designed to mimic a midair collision at 238 mph. A 2.1-pound DJI Phantom 2 drone was launched into the wing of a Mooney M20 aircraft. As you can see in the video below, the drone did not shatter upon impact but tore open the leading edge of the wing. It entered the wing’s structure and damaged the main spar, posing a risk to manned aircraft.

10/8/18: The article was updated with a longer version video about the test.

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New research from the BBC shows that the number of new-misses in the UK skies has increased by 60% in the last five years. The most serious incidents, classed as Category A airproxes, more than doubles between 2013 and 2017. Half of these Category A near-misses, unfortunately, involved drones.

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Last Saturday, during a drone inspection of a cracked window of the sinking Millennium Tower in San Francisco, the aircraft suddenly fell out of the sky. Apparently, the unmanned aircraft system (UAS) had lost its GPS connection and drifted across the street into another building before it came crashing down. It almost hit pedestrians who were walking on the sidewalk below. It is unconfirmed what kind of drone was involved but the footage seems to show a DJI Phantom series UAS.

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With drones being such a widespread piece of aviation technology, they prove to be beneficial to many industries. Despite their potential, drones pose a serious threat to manned aircraft flying throughout the sky because of their small size. This raises the question; what would happen if a drone was sucked into a jet engine?

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Check out this near-miss drone video that was just posted on YouTube yesterday. It shows you how a helicopter can quickly appear out of nowhere and come at you fast. All of a sudden, your leisure drone-flight along the Hollywood Beach, FL coastline, could potentially cause a tragic accident, guaranteed to make the headlines throughout the country. Luckily this one ended well, but it shows you how careful we all have to be when flying our drones in a congested airspace.

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Check out this video! Somebody thought it was a great idea to fly his drone right next to an airport runway to record airplanes taking off. Not just any airplane. No, big ones. Like this Airbus A380 that can carry up to 525 people and that just took off from Mauritius Island in the Indian Ocean. I mean, seriously…

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