It happened at Christmas at London’s second largest airport, and now it is Heathrow, the most important airport in the British capital, which had to stop its departure flights. According to they announcedis a response as a precautionary measure to possible sightings of drones flying over near the airport.
Drones, while small compared to an airplane, can be a major hazard to commercial aircraft takeoffs and landings. Enough of that cause the airport to be temporarily closed and deploy the military to complete them. More than 800 flights were canceled at Gatwick several weeks ago, and the facility was thrown into chaos.
No take-offs as a precaution
In the case of Heathrow, such a situation has not yet occurred, but they reported that there was a drone sighting this afternoon. As a precautionary measure other takeoffs stopped until the situation is resolved or under control.
We are responding to drone sightings at Heathrow and working closely with the Met Police to prevent any threat to operational safety. As a precautionary measure, we have suspended departures during the investigation. We apologize for any inconvenience to passengers.
— Heathrow Airport (@HeathrowAirport) January 8, 2019
As he hinted the airport’s own Twitter account, they have stopped departures from the airport for the time being. It’s unclear if arrivals will also stop in the next few hours, though we’ll be keeping an eye on that.
The airport said takeoffs have resumed while officials continue to work with local authorities to monitor the situation.
Through | @Heathrow Airport
Image | Unsplash