‘Surprised it hasn’t happened here’
Irish Aviation Authority still hasn’t put in place plans to protect our airports from Gatwick-style chaos
THE IRISH Aviation Authority has yet to implement an anti-drone defensive plan for the country’s airports.
The body has been looking at the technology since at least 2016.
But sources told the Irish Daily Mail last night that nothing has been decided and no defence shield is yet in place.
The EU has launched Project SECOPS to create an integrated Europe-wide security system for, in effect, defending state installations against rogue drone attacks.
One of the systems under development is the Dutch National Police-backed DroneCatcher.
This is a drone armed with a laser rangefinder and a pneumatic gun that fires a net over offending drones and takes them out of action.
However, until an airport network-wide system is adopted in Ireland, the chaos caused by the drones at Gatwick Airport could easily be repeated here, an aviation expert warned last night.
The expert, Gerry Byrne, said airports in Ireland – where there are more than 11,190 drones registered with the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) – are just as vulnerable to drone attacks and that he was surprised such attacks hadn’t happened already.
He said last night: ‘You need to be a very special type of moron to try to disrupt the landing and taking-off of a passenger plane carrying hundreds of passengers.
‘It does happen, like with those laser pens some of these idiots use to flash into the eyes of pilots to blind them.
‘But what is happening at Gatwick has taken things to a whole new level and could easily happen here.’
He added: ‘I am surprised it has not happened here yet.
‘It is remarkable that such a thing could close down an airport.’
Mr Byrne said it is very difficult to trap and shut down a drone, especially one with a mounted camera, transmitting images back to the operator.
‘The problem with shutting down the frequencies these drones use is that they are same frequencies that so many other applications use,’ he said. ‘You then end up with the law of unintended consequences; what else would you end up shutting down if you closed off these frequencies?
‘These machines can be operated from many miles away, so it is almost impossible to find them.’
He added that the real threat to aircraft from drones is not if they hit the craft’s windscreens.
Instead, it is if one of them – especially
‘Can destroy an engine in seconds’
a high-end drone – hits an engine. ‘They can destroy an engine in seconds,’ the aviation expert said. ‘The battery of a drone alone would be enough to wreck and engine.’
An Irish Aviation Authority spokesperson said last night: ‘Illegal use of drones can be reported to An Garda Síochána for investigation.
‘The Small Unmanned Aircraft (Drones) and Rockets Order (December 2015) governs the use of Small Unmanned Aircraft (SUA) in Ireland.’
As far as technology to tackle the problem is concerned, it added: ‘Such technology is still at development stage.’