The reported sighting of what appeared to be a drone at two coastal localities in the capital early Friday has highlighted the threat the proliferation of inexpensive unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and their unregulated use pose to civil aviation in Kerala, according to State and Central agencies.
Commissioner of Customs, Preventive, Sumit Kumar, told The Hindu that enforcers had seized ‘hundreds’ of drones from persons who had tried to smuggle them in through airport checkpoints. “Our warehouses in Kerala are brimming with confiscated UAVs. We have prevented thousands of UAVs, a restricted item, from entering the illegal market. Unregulated UAVs flown by non-State actors without clearance from authorities are a security threat,” he says.
Vinod Madhav, an expert aeromodeller, says many of the drones now available in the black market are capable of flying high and fast enough to get in the path of commercial airliners.
A veteran commercial pilot says rogue drones most threaten aircraft during their final approach to land. Small UAVs could easily get sucked into the engines.
C.V. Raveendran, Airport Director, Thiruvananthapuram, says civil aviation authorities have evolved a standard operating procedure to deal with UAV threats. So far the airport has not had to ground or divert any flight due to a drone threat. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has a well tested multi-agency approach to detect and interdict unknown drones. Another officer says low flying drones with minimal radar signature often do not register on radars and airports rely on trained spotters to identify aerial intruders.
District Police Chief, Thiruvananthapuram City, Sanjay Kumar Gurudin says he has ordered his officers to simulate the sighting of the drone at the very spot a patrol team had spotted it flying overhead.
There are some inconsistencies in the report that requires further verification, he adds.