Four drones flying illegally caused more than 60 flights to get disrupted which resulted in more than 10K passengers being left stranded. The four drones were flying within the protected zone of the Chengdu’s Shuangliu International Airport. One drone even flew below an airplane that was about to land.
While there was no damage to any planes. 58 flights had to be diverted to nearby airports, four flights had to return and 10 were cancelled. Many passengers were left waiting at the airport not knowing what was going to happen.
Only one person was arrested so far for illegal drone flying.
According to local government organisations, flying model airplanes and unmanned aerial vehicles are banned 10km (6 miles) away from the centerline of the runways, and 20km from the end of runways at civil airports.
The illegal use of drones is becoming a major issue all around the world and Chinese authorities have been enforcing regulations and guidelines on drone flying to get rid of illegal drone operators.
Drones could be sucked into an engine or crash into the plane causing a major threat to safety.
This is what a drone crashing into a tree looks like:
