Take ’em down, boys.
Dublin Airport has been given permission to legally take down drones after a number of high-profile incidents disrupted flights over the last year.
The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) have now been legally cleared to jam the frequencies of drones or even take them down if necessary.
The airport has been plagued by a number of drone operators, who have flown the objects into airspace, leading to numerous flight delays and thousands of passengers experiencing disrupted travel.
Dublin airport has been given the go-ahead to take down trespassing drones.
The matter reached a head in March when one drone sighting caused three flight diversions and suspended operations at Dublin Airport for around half an hour.
The incidents prompted the DAA to invest in anti-drone technology, new equipment and training in how to combat the objects, but needed to be granted permission by the communications regulator ComReg, before deploying the tactics.
A spokesman for ComReg, said: “Following some amendments to legislation by the Government earlier this summer, ComReg provided DAA, in June, with a licence to operate the device.”
DAA finally granted ability to combat drones
In February, after a series of interruptions to services at Dublin Airport, Ryanair released a statement targeting Minister Eamon Ryan’s “failure to take any action” on the matter.
In the statement, a spokesperson for the airline said it was the fifth time in four weeks that Dublin Airport has closed due to drone disruptions, causing “multiple delays” and disrupting “hundreds of passengers”.
A Ryanair spokesperson said:
“It is unacceptable that more Ryanair flights and hundreds of passengers have again suffered disruptions and delays as Dublin Airport closed for a fifth time in four weeks due to Transport Minister Eamon Ryan’s failure to take any action to prevent drone disruptions at Dublin Airport. As always, Minister Ryan promises ‘stronger enforcement measures’ but delivers nothing.
“Minister Ryan should explain why other EU Airports have effective drone prevention measures in place but Dublin keeps being disrupted while he is asleep on the job. Sadly, our Transport Minister is all talk and no action when it comes to drone disruptions.”
The amendments which now allow the airport to take down drones were made by Minister Ryan, who added a subsection making it lawful “to work or use a radio frequency jammer at Dublin Airport to interfere with the working of, or otherwise injuriously affect, any UAS [unmanned aircraft system]” where it believes this is necessary to ensure public safety.
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