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DRONES

Drone comes within 20 metres of colliding with plane in Zurich

A drone almost crashed into a passenger plane near Zurich’s Kloten airport in late September in what safety authorities have called a "serious incident".

Published: 15 November 2018 10:28 CET
Drone comes within 20 metres of colliding with plane in Zurich
A file image of a drone. Photo: Peter Linehan

A Swiss International Air Lines Airbus A319 carrying 103 passengers and five crew members was about five nautical miles (9.2 kilometres) from Kloten’s runway 14 when a drone suddenly appeared 20 metres above the plane.

No one was injured in the incident but the Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board is now investigating.

Under Swiss drone laws, it is illegal to fly a drone weighing 500 grams or more within five kilometres of landing fields and heliports without prior permission.

The Swiss Federal Aviation Office (FOCA) also told The Local on Thursday that the weight restriction would be lowered to 250 grams in future as the European Union rolls out new regulations around drone use.

For airports and heliports with air traffic control systems there are also designated control zones where drones can only fly to a maximum height of 150 metres above the ground.

The control zone around Zurich airport is marked in blue above. Image: swisstopo; FOCA

On Wednesday, a BAZL spokesperson said it would be next to impossible to identify the person operating the drone in the incident in late September because it would have been controlled from a distance via camera.

The spokesperson said that the amount of potential damage in such an incident depended on the size of the drone. He added that a collision between a plane and a drone might not lead to a crash but could still results in millions of francs in damage.

In 2016, the Swiss Federal Aviation Office (BAZL) put out a map showing where drone operators can and can't fly in the wake of a series of incident involving aircraft and drones.

But earlier this year, Swiss airlines safety boss Philipp Spörli told Zurich daily the Tages Anzeiger that many people flying drones were unaware of the rules.

BAZL is currently creating an electronic register of drone operators while authorities at Zurich airport are calling for training courses to be run.

Read also: It's OK to shoot down drones, say Swiss legal experts

 

MADRID

Drones to enforce coronavirus rules at Madrid cemeteries on All Saints’ Day

Madrid city hall said Wednesday it will deploy drones at two of the largest cemeteries in the Spanish capital on All Saints' Day to ensure virus restrictions are respected.

Published: 28 October 2020 17:55 CET
Drones to enforce coronavirus rules at Madrid cemeteries on All Saints' Day
Photo: AFP

Spanish families traditionally visit the graves of loved ones on the November 1st holiday but this year, capacity at cemeteries in Madrid has been reduced to half because of the pandemic.   

Groups of visitors will be limited to no more than six and they must respect social distancing rules.

To ensure people keep to the rules, up to 300 municipal police will be deployed daily at cemeteries in the Spanish capital over three days from October 30, city hall said. The figure is 20 percent higher than last year.   

Officers will be backed up by drones at two of the city's largest cemeteries, one of which is La Almudena, where famous Spaniards like flamenco legend Lola Flores and Nobel-winning neuroscientist Santiago Ramon y Cajal are buried.   

The other is the Carabanchel cemetery.    

“We can't allow crowds to form either inside or outside” cemeteries on these days, Mayor Jose Luiz Martinez-Almeida told reporters.    

It is not the first time Madrid police have deployed drones to enforce virus restrictions: when a national lockdown began in March, police used loudspeakers mounted on drones to tell people in parks and public spaces to go
home.   

Last week, Spain became the first European Union nation to surpass one million confirmed Covid-19 infections, with the virus claiming more than 35,000 lives thus far.

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