Police at Manchester Airport issue Christmas warning
Police at Manchester Airport have warned that drones which may have been gifted at Christmas[1] can’t be flown within five kilometres of the airfield. So-called ‘Flight Restriction Zones’ are in force around airports across the country, including at Manchester Airport and Manchester Barton[2] Aerodrome, to protect the safety of planes taking off and landing. With the boom in the popularity of drones, airports have seen severe disruption in the last few years, particularly at Gatwick Airport which cancelled or diverted around 1,000 flights between December 19-21 2018 because of drone reports.
In May, in-coming flights were paused for an hour because of reports of drones near the airfield.
In a post on GMP’s Manchester Airport Facebook page, the force reminded followers about a ‘restriction zone’ which prohibits the flying of potentially dangerous unmanned craft near the airport, and shared a video which showed the restricted air space. It said: “We hope you are having a great Christmas.
If you are lucky enough to have been given a drone please be aware there is a Flight Restriction Zone of 5 KM around Manchester Airport[5]. You are not permitted to fly within this without authority of the airport.”
The flight restriction zone around Manchester Airport (Image: GMP Manchester Airport)
The post directed people to Government guidance on drones which said: “In 2016 there were over 50 reports from pilots of commercial airliners that their aircraft had almost hit a drone. Military aviation is not immune, there have been near misses with Chinooks at Benson and Odiham, likewise for fixed wing aircraft at Cranwell, and in 2016 a Navy Lynx at 2000ft missed a drone by an estimated 30 to 50 feet.
“Whilst there is work ongoing within the aviation industry to fully understand the implications of a drone hitting an aircraft, it doesn’t take much imagination to understand the likely consequences of 3kg of metal and plastic, including the lithium-polymer battery, hitting a helicopter windshield or, perhaps worse, the tail rotor at 100mph.”
The flight restriction zones around Manchester Airport and Manchester Barton Aerodrome (Image: National Air Traffic Services)
In August, a man was fined almost GBP1,500 for flying a drone over one of the country’s busiest airports to get footage of a festival. Daniel Cesare flew the device in the prohibited airspace above East Midlands Airport to get footage of this year’s Download Festival, held at neighbouring Donington Park in Castle Donington, Leicestershire. The 36-year-old flew the drone, a DJI Mavic, from a recreation centre in Shardlow, around two miles from Donington Park, on June 9 and 10.
Footage from the drone shows both day and night-time shots of the festival, with a plane seen landing in the footage.
A drone with a camera (Image: West Lothian Courier)
Cesare, of Oakfields Grove, Derby, was ordered to pay a total of GBP1,496 after previously pleading guilty to seven offences.
He had previously pleaded guilty in July to being a remote pilot flying an unmanned aircraft in a flight restriction zone without permission, failing to comply with maximum height restrictions and failing to keep an unmanned flight in sight, all committed on June 9 this year.
References
- ^ Christmas (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
- ^ Barton (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
- ^ The killers brought to justice in Greater Manchester in 2023 (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
- ^ Greater Manchester Police issue update after parent and son killed in crash (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
- ^ Manchester Airport (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)