Drone paralyses operations at Norwegian airport, public broadcaster says

An unidentified drone is reported to have been spotted in the Norwegian town of Brønnøysund on the evening of Tuesday 30 September, leading to the temporary suspension of operations at the local airport.

Source: Norwegian public broadcaster NRK

Details: The first report of the drone reached the police at 20:17 on Tuesday. At around 21:50, staff at the Brønnøysund airport control tower observed the drone close to the airfield and immediately called law enforcement.

Police patrols arrived at the scene and began searching for the UAV's operator.

Morten Sørensen, a representative of the Nordland police district, said that they had observed the drone in the air but were unable to find any pilot linked to it, so after a while, they ended the operation at the scene.

The last scheduled flight was able to land despite the incident, said Karoline Persen, spokesperson for Avinor, the company managing Norwegian airports. After that, the airport was closed for the night and resumed normal operations on the morning of 1 October.

Background:

• This is not the first such incident at Brønnøysund airport in recent days. On Sunday 28 September, drones were also spotted in the no-fly zone, forcing a Widerøe flight to be diverted to another airport.
• On 27 September, Norwegian police decided to tighten drone flight rules around four airports in Nordland following possible drone sightings near the Ørland military air base. Among these airports were Brønnøysund, as well as Bodø, Evenes and Andenes.
• In addition, on 29 September, drones were seen over a gas field belonging to Equinor in the North Sea.
• Following a series of drone appearances near strategic facilities in Baltic region countries, NATO is set to strengthen patrols in the Baltic Sea.

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