The growing intensity of the unmanned aerial traffic is a threat to civil aviation, and the Russian sabotage further complicates the situation – Dr. Eng. Tomasz Balcerzak, an expert of the aviation industry. Despite the need to update some procedures, passengers may feel safe – he added.
On Wednesday evening, unidentified drones appeared over Danish airports again. They had lights turned on and were clearly visible. Like two days earlier in Copenhagen, their unexpected presence resulted in temporary closure of the aircraft above the airports in Aalborg and Billund. As a result, dozens of passenger flights were canceled or redirected.
As Dr. Eng. Tomasz Balcerzak from Lazarski Aviation Academy, military pilot and former president of Eurolot Airlines, incidents involving unidentified drones that took place in Denmark, as well as in Norway, and earlier in Poland and Romania, are “certain new” for the civilian aviation industry.
– Until now, we had situations involving drones, which at least gave the impression of randomness, but now someone is even focused on causing some damage – Balcerzak said and added that the civil aviation industry will have to verify the procedures used so far.
The expert claims, however, that despite these events, passengers may feel safe. – We should be prepared for irregularities in the form of delayed flights, route changes and landing airports – the expert pointed out.
Balcerzak explained that when an unidentified unmanned aerial vehicle appears over the airport – as recently in Denmark – the safety of civil air traffic should be taken care of in the first place. In this situation, the greatest threat applies to planes already in the air.
– You need to redirect them to spare airports or issue a decision to stay in the so -called Holding, i.e. in a safe zone in the air – said Balcerzak and clarified that in the event of closing the airport and suspending air traffic, as in Denmark, planes for some time – usually up to two hours – occupy a place in the air queue.
In such a situation, planes fly “over and over again”, usually after the ellipse and wait for traffic control to decide to open the airport and start the approach to landing. The second phase of the procedure provided is a protection of ground movement at the airport.
On the occasion of the recent drones of the drones into the airspace of Danish airports – which can be part of the Russian hybrid surgery – and also in the context of the Russian drone attack on Poland and Romania, appears, according to dr. Balcerzaka, a different, much more difficult problem to solve.
– It is a matter of use of security systems used to neutralize scholars – admitted Balcerzak and added that today we are dealing with a new type of war, consisting in attacking civilian critical infrastructure using double -application devices. The drone can only fly over the airport, but it may also be armed.
It is easier to be the fact that the civil controller sits in the tower next to the military controller and both analyze and coordinate the situation on an ongoing basis. It is the military controller that launches systems to neutralize the intruder. According to Balcerzak, however, there is a risk that during such an operation, both civil vessels and their navigation systems as well as ground systems necessary to guide aircraft can be damaged.
– So you need to “balance” between what is necessary to neutralize the drone – emitting specific electromagnetic radiation or shooting down it – and the safety of civil flights – the expert said.
An additional problem is that classic radar systems that flight controllers use may have difficulty detecting a drone weighing up to 5 kg. The controller may see him, but – as Balcerzak notes – it is easy to confuse him with the bird.
As an expert admitted, drones are not the only problem of passenger pilot pilot, because there is evidence that the Russians introduce, for example, incorrect coordinates to satellite navigation systems, or try to disrupt GPS.
This situation took place on Wednesday, when an attempt was made to disturb the GPS signal of the Spanish military aircraft flying near the Russian royal. On board was the Minister of Defense of Spain, Margarita Robles, traveling to Lithuania to visit the Spanish military contingent stationed in this country.
As explained by the “El Mundo” newspaper, the commander of the aircraft “is a fairly common incident during commercial and military flights over the Królewiec region, which consists in attempting to confuse pilots.” As the newspaper explained, in the case of a military aircraft that Minister Robles traveled, this attempt failed because the plane receives information from the military satellite.
According to Balcerzak, ordinary passengers can also feel safe in similar situations. Civil aviation has developed technology based on independent navigation systems.
– The pilot has a backup, which is useful if there were a situation that GPS and other satellite systems are disturbed – the expert explained, adding that on a special board, located at the gay, where the plane parks, the geographical coordinates of the place where the plane is located. The pilot must enter this data in the system, positioning in relation to the place from which it started.
The Russian hybrid war against NATO is also manifested in the violations of the airspace of neighbors. On Friday, September 19 in the morning, three Russian MiG-31 fighters flew into the airspace of Estonia near the island of Vaindloo on the Finnish bay and remained there for about 12 minutes.
When asked whether such events are a serious threat to civil aviation, Dr. Balcerzak replied that “he does not expect the Russians to dare to shoot down a civil plane.” In his opinion, however, in connection with this type of incidents, however, you have to take into account the restrictions of civil traffic in the airspace. Balcerzak reminded that in the eastern part of Poland, in specific areas, the air movement is limited at the moment.
Unauthorized unmanneders, which appeared on the Danish airports on Wednesday evening, were also performed near the Skrydstrup air base, where most Danish f-16 and F-35 fighters are stationed.
The appearance of unidentified drones over Danish airports in Aalborg and Billund took place only two days after the Castrup airport in Copenhagen was closed for four hours due to the observance of large unmanned unmanned.
The Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen called this incident “the most serious attack on the critical infrastructure of her country so far and emphasized that” he cannot rule out “that the Kremlin is behind the incident.
Anna Gwozdowska (PAP)
AG/ BST/ MOW/
