Flights resume at Newark Airport after drone sighted nearby

Bloomberg

Flights at Newark Liberty International Airport were briefly halted after a drone was spotted flying nearby in an episode reminiscent of the ones that disrupted traffic at London’s major facilities in recent months.
The device was spotted over nearby Teterboro Airport north of Newark at an altitude of 3,500 feet, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) spokesman Greg Martin said. The first notice of an FAA halt to flights was issued at 4:52 pm.
At 5:40 pm, the agency sent an internal notice saying flights were landing again, though some arriving flights were being held at their departure airports to ease backups.
The ground stop at Newark, a major hub in the New York metropolitan area, stoked fears of growing drone disruptions as US regulators seek to expand civilian uses of the robotic aircraft while tightening security.
In the UK, London’s Gatwick airport was disrupted over three successive days last month after drone sightings. Heathrow airport briefly shut down earlier this month when drone sightings near its runways raised safety concerns.
“We’re coordinating with the FAA & fully supporting all federal law enforcement authorities as they investigate this incident,” Newark Liberty’s Twitter account reported in announcing the resumption of normal operations shortly after 7 pm.
At one of the nation’s most congested and delay-prone airports, even a brief halt to landings can ripple though the day and cause disruptions for hours. The FAA said it anticipated possible delays lasing more than two hours with an average of about an hour.
An FAA website reported “drone activity on the final,” indicating that it was near the approach path for one or both of Newark’s parallel runways.
“The impact to our operations has been minimal so far,” United Airlines, the largest carrier at Newark, said in an email. “We are working closely with the airport and the FAA to return our operations to normal as quickly as possible.”
The airport has also been plagued by delays in passenger security screening blamed on the partial government shutdown that began on December 22. On Monday, travellers waited as long as 40 minutes, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

Proposed Rules
The incidents in London and Newark highlight a growing problem with drones: the potential for massive disruptions of commercial air travel by their mere presence.
The US government is drafting proposals that would track drones and identify their users in real time, but the rules are years away from becoming final. Regulators unveiled a long-awaited set of proposals that would allow drone flights over people — a critical step for an industry seeking to expand into robot aerial deliveries and scores of other commercial uses in populated areas.
The world’s largest civilian drone maker, China-based SZ DJI Technology Co Ltd., issued a statement saying it would assist in any investigation, but raising doubts that a pilot could such a small craft at that altitude. “Spotting one from a plane flying at more than 100 mph strains the limits of physical possibility,” said company spokesman Adam Lisberg.
The FAA has recorded hundreds of sightings of drones by pilots, including at Newark
and other major commercial airports.