Dubai aiding UK in solving drone crisis
Airports keen to learn from emirate’s experience
Dubai is being billed as a “world leader” in drone safety regulation after it was exclusively revealed by Gulf News that London’s Gatwick and Heathrow airports have both sought the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority’s (DCAA) help in solving the UK’s current drone crisis.
Gatwick was closed from December 19-21, and Heathrow on January 8, all because of errant drones.
Because of its own 2015 incident — which is believed to be the world’s first case of a major airport being closed due to a drone sighting — Dubai has had to put strict protocols in place to ensure such incidents never happen again.
UK airports are now keen to learn from Dubai’s experience and have reached out to the DCAA’s head of airspace safety Michael Rudolph, who says, “The UAE stands ready to help any entity experiencing such negative activities in their airspace.”
UK airports have asked Dubai for help in tackling its drone problem after runways at London’s Gatwick and Heathrow were both closed in recent weeks due to the remote controlled menace.
Dubai is said to be a ‘leader’ in drone regulation after it experienced one of the world’s first major airport closures linked to a drone sighting back in 2015.
After that incident, Dubai International Airport — the world’s third busiest in terms of passenger numbers — had to undergo a ‘steep learning curve’ to avoid such events, which are estimated to cost up to $1 million (Dh3.6 million) a minute.
It is this experience and Dubai’s reaction to it, with the implementation of strict laws and regulations, that have made the emirate’s airspace a shining example for others to follow, especially after Gatwick was closed from December 19-21 and Heathrow suffered the same fate on January 8, all because of errant drones.
“I’ve been speaking to aviation entities from Gatwick as well as London Heathrow regarding the airspace disruptions they have experienced,” Michael Rudolph, head of airspace safety at Dubai Civil Aviation, told Gulf News.
“It’s just general conversation and suggestions on what they might consider moving forward,” he added.
Quick fix
“We had to come up with a solution pretty quickly that allowed the flying community to have faith in the safety of Dubai airspace, and we put protocols in place where in future we could mitigate such closures.”
Those protocols include putting rules and regulations in place that deter drone operators from flying in certain areas, with stiff punishments for offenders of jail and fines of up to Dh100,000.
All drone operators have to undergo training in order to register their vehicles and themselves to operate in the emirate, thus ensuring accountability if misused. Third party insurance is also mandated and there is a re-registration process in place to monitor whether drones are still safe to fly.
This counts for all drones “whereas other countries might only register certain weight categories, we register all from hobbyists up to commercial operators,” added Rudolph.
“All of this is pretty unique to Dubai and that’s why we can say we are definitely leaders in the industry with regard to regulation and policy to ensure both public as well as airspace is kept as safe as humanly possible.
“The UAE stands ready to help any entity experiencing such negative activities in their airspace. If those airports are prepared to request our advice from the steep learning curve we experienced, I’m sure we would be more than happy to share that information with them,” he added.