Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest, closed its airspace for 69 minutes due to unauthorised drone activity on Saturday. In January 2015, the same airport was closed for a similar period of time after a drone incident.
Around 100 airlines fly to more than 240 destinations from the hub, which is also home to carrier Emirates. Apart from the larger issues of aviation safety, inconvenience to thousands of passengers, experts have estimated that Dubai’s economy loses about $1mn for every minute the hub is closed.
The flying of drones is prohibited within 5km of airports, helipads, landing areas or manned aircraft in the UAE.
Around the world, the use of civil drones, whether for commercial purposes or as a leisure activity, is rising. And that has led to increasing reports of near-misses with commercial aircraft.
One of the most recent incidents occurred on March 18, when a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt approaching Los Angeles International Airport reported a drone flew about 200ft above the Airbus A380.
Each month, US pilots and air traffic controllers report more than 100 drone “sightings” to the Federal Aviation Administration, which says such reports have surged since 2014, with more than 1,200 incidents nationwide last year. Current FAA rules restrict drone operators from flying within five miles of an airport and above 400ft.
Drones, made of solid plastics, batteries and metal, will “most certainly” cause more damage to an aircraft than birds, which have caused airliners to crash, according to a US study published last November.
True, the Gulf states are investing millions of dollars in technology and system upgrades to ensure seamless and safer passenger as well as freight movement. With Middle East airports expected to be handling nearly 450mn passengers a year by 2020, constant upgrades to the security system are needed to deliver a better travellers’ experience, according to the International Air Transport Association.
There is no stopping of technology, for sure. Drones will soon be boosting crop yields, verifying insurance claims and assisting in future Hollywood blockbusters in a business set to boom by more than 6,000% by the end of the decade. The global market for commercial applications of drone technology, currently estimated at about $2bn, will balloon to as much as $127bn by 2020, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers study.
Let, then, technology police technology, experts say. Drones could be manned by geo-fencing technology, which could prevent the devices from flying near airports. Get too close and they crash to the ground. Embedded software could also restrict the altitude.
Amid growing concerns that a drone could be used by terrorists to wreak havoc, the unauthorised use of small drones pose a clear danger to aircraft, privacy and wider security. The drones discovered on the White House lawn and the roof of the Japanese prime minister’s office certainly did make a point; and the Dubai airport closure is a grim reminder.