Drone sighting prompts brief halt to flights at Washington National
Reuters
Published Jul 21, 2022 03:51PM ET
By David Shepardson
(Reuters) - Officials halted flights into and out of Reagan Washington National Airport for about 13 minutes on Thursday after a drone sighting was reported, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said.
The FAA said it immediately notified law enforcement and said operations have resumed but there were some residual delays. The FAA did not immediately respond to a question about whether the drone or the operator was located.
The area around Washington National Airport has the strictest prohibitions on drones https://www.faa.gov/uas/resources/community_engagement/no_drone_zone/dc in the United States. Flying a drone within the 15-mile radius of the airport is prohibited without specific FAA authorization, a requirement that covers all of Washington, DC https://dc.gov/page/airspace-restrictions.
The FlightAware.com tracking service said 90 flights at National had been delayed, or 20% and seven were canceled. Washington National is the closest airport to the U.S. capital and used by many lawmakers and other government officials.
A 2019 drone sighting near New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport required 45 flights to hold while nine flights were diverted.
Last week, the U.S. Congress held a hearing in which lawmakers and U.S. sports leagues backed a bid by the White House for expanded powers to detect and disable threatening drones.
Congress in 2018 expanded authority of the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security to disable or destroy threatening drones, which are formally known as unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). The Biden administration has asked Congress to renew existing authority and expand its powers as the number of registered drones jumps. The 2018 drone-policing powers are set to expire in October.
The White House wants to extend powers to detect and destroy or disable threatening drones to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for airports and the U.S. Marshals Service for prisoner transports.
DHS official Samantha Vinograd said TSA since 2021 "has reported nearly 2,000 drone sightings near U.S. airports, including incursions at major airports nearly every day."
She added that "since 2019, drone incidents have caused U.S. airports to fully halt operations three times, and in 2021, over 30 partial suspensions of operations - resulting in millions of dollars of economic damage."
Get The News You Want
Written By: Reuters
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.