Drones buzzing around Singapore’s Changi Airport have caused 63 flights to be delayed or diverted in the past week, triggering an investigation and raising questions about the motives of the offenders.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore yesterday said that 18 flights at the airport were delayed and seven were diverted the night before “due to bad weather and unauthorized drone activities.”
It had earlier confirmed drones were seen flying near the airport on Tuesday and Wednesday last week. That caused the intermittent closure of a runway, delaying 37 flights and diverting one arriving plane to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
“A multiagency team, including the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, Changi Airport Group, Singapore Armed Forces and the Singapore Police Force, was activated for the search and locate operations,” the regulator said.
Investigations are ongoing.
No details on the number of drones involved and the perpetrators have been provided by the authorities.
Shortly after news broke of the drone activity at the airport, the Singaporean Ministry of Defence posted a photograph of a soldier pointing a jammer gun at a “rouge drone” on Facebook.
While the photo was not taken at Changi, it hinted at the anti-drone technologies that might be used to track down offenders.
Drones are largely controlled by operators via a radio control link, on a frequency that is similar to Wi-Fi. A jammer gun temporarily disables this connection.
“In absence of a control link, most drones are designed to switch into ‘fail-safe’ mode, and may either attempt to return to its original location or immediately land,” said Foong Shaohui, an associate professor who researches unmanned systems at the Singapore University of Technology and Design.
“It would be possible to identify the operators by analyzing the information stored in the drone” such as pictures and flight data, he added.
Some observers said the incursions, which happened on two occasions and less than a week from each other, could signal the involvement of more sophisticated groups.
Garuda Robotics chief executive Mark Yong took the vast media coverage on the dangers of flying drones around the airport into account.
“Since this is a repeat event ... there is a good chance that this is not an accidental airspace intrusion or an ignorant drone operator,” he said.
Unauthorized drone activity is dangerous around airports because of the risk of collision with planes that are taking off and landing.
Drones cannot be flown within 5km of airports or military bases in Singapore without a permit.
The offense carries a maximum penalty of a year’s jail term and a fine of S$20,000 (US$14,744).
Changi Airport is among the world’s busiest. It handled a record 65.6 million passengers last year, but its executives have named rising fuel prices and trade tensions as challenges going forward.
Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss, the stepsister of teenage diarist Anne Frank and a tireless educator about the horrors of the Holocaust, has died. She was 96. The Anne Frank Trust UK, of which Schloss was honorary president, said she died on Saturday in London, where she lived. Britain’s King Charles III said he was “privileged and proud” to have known Schloss, who cofounded the charitable trust to help young people challenge prejudice. “The horrors that she endured as a young woman are impossible to comprehend and yet she devoted the rest of her life to overcoming hatred and prejudice, promoting kindness, courage, understanding
Tens of thousands of Filipino Catholics yesterday twirled white cloths and chanted “Viva, viva,” as a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ was paraded through the streets of Manila in the nation’s biggest annual religious event. The day-long procession began before dawn, with barefoot volunteers pulling the heavy carriage through narrow streets where the devout waited in hopes of touching the icon, believed to hold miraculous powers. Thousands of police were deployed to manage crowds that officials believe could number in the millions by the time the statue reaches its home in central Manila’s Quiapo church around midnight. More than 800 people had sought
‘DISRESPECTFUL’: Katie Miller, the wife of Trump’s most influential adviser, drew ire by posting an image of Greenland in the colors of the US flag, captioning it ‘SOON’ US President Donald Trump on Sunday doubled down on his claim that Greenland should become part of the US, despite calls by the Danish prime minister to stop “threatening” the territory. Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela has reignited fears for Greenland, which Trump has repeatedly said he wants to annex, given its strategic location in the arctic. While aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, Trump reiterated the goal. “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” he said in response to a reporter’s question. “We’ll worry about Greenland in
PERILOUS JOURNEY: Over just a matter of days last month, about 1,600 Afghans who were at risk of perishing due to the cold weather were rescued in the mountains Habibullah set off from his home in western Afghanistan determined to find work in Iran, only for the 15-year-old to freeze to death while walking across the mountainous frontier. “He was forced to go, to bring food for the family,” his mother, Mah Jan, said at her mud home in Ghunjan village. “We have no food to eat, we have no clothes to wear. The house in which I live has no electricity, no water. I have no proper window, nothing to burn for heating,” she added, clutching a photograph of her son. Habibullah was one of at least 18 migrants who died
RSS