Monday, Oct 31, 2016

In the past year, the airspace around Dubai International Airport has been closed on three separate occasions as a result of illegal drone activity near flight paths. In addition, the most serious and recent incident last Saturday also warranted the airspace for Sharjah Airport to be closed.

On Saturday alone, 40 incoming flights were diverted or delayed, with some planes being forced to land temporarily at Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central, or Al Ain.

Simply put, whoever was responsible for this irresponsible and illegal behaviour caused untold misery for passengers on those planes. Imagine ending a 15-hour journey to Dubai, only being forced to land for a couple of hours elsewhere. Or fretting about an onward connection because of the drone delays?

In economic terms, activity related to Dubai airport represents roughly a third of the emirate’s GDP, and those who were responsible did, in effect, abet an economic crime. In legal terms, they also broke Law No 7 of 2015 on aviation safety.

There are rules and regulations set in place to allow for the positive economic impacts and uses of commercial drone activity. The owners of these drones are required to license their remote aircraft and operate within reasonable restrictions and outside of areas that are required for safety and necessity for aircraft coming in and out of the airports of the UAE.

It’s totally unacceptable to be able to buy a drone at Dragon Mart or any similar place, open the box, and fly it without registration and licensing. Every effort must be made to ensure every drone bought and sold is properly registered. And those who don’t must be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

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