Drone causes temporary closure at LPA
Saturday, April 13th, 2024
Drone causes disruption at Gran Canaria airport
Drones are becoming increasingly popular among the general population, and their infiltration into airport airspace is becoming a serious issue. Last night April 12th saw the closure of LPA airport because such an incident with a low flying drone.
The drone was seen within the Gran Canaria airport air space. This caused the airport to close for approximately an hour for safety reasons. The closure caused some flights having to be diverted to TFS airport on the island of Tenerife, also the islands of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote receiving diverted flights.
At around 9pm the drone was first sighted and just after 10pm the airport was able to open again to allow full operation of both departure flights and flights arriving to Gran Canaria.
These drones although being small can cause considerable damage to an aircraft and would require an emergency landing if impact took place.