Unmanned aerial vehicle flies illegally in area surrounding the airport; the drone\’s operator is yet to be located.
near disaster was averted Wednesday when a Brussels Airlines Airbus A320 that was set to land at Ben-Gurion Airport distinguished a drone, which was not sanctioned to fly in the area, some 100 meters away, posing a serious danger to both aircraft.
The Brussels Airlines\’ plane\’s first captain described the drone as square and blue with four rotors.
On the plane, which was en route to Ben-Gurion from Brussels, Belgium, there were 160 passengers and crew members. The plane was at an altitude of 4,000 feet when the unmanned aerial vehicle flew beneath it. The drone, weighing very little, would not cause critical damage if it were to strike the body of the plane, but could have caused problems if it hit the plane\’s engine.
Police were informed of the incident, but the drone and its operator were yet to be located. The Transportation Ministry, which is investigating the incident, said that a drone flying in such a manner without regulation or coordination of the proper authorities could have caused a disaster.
The Israel Airports Authority said that the drone was not over the airspace of Ben-Gurion Airport, but over the neighboring city of Lod. The vehicle flew in the airspace in which planes fly south of Ben-Gurion on their way to the Modi\’in area in order to make their landings from the east.