Around 7:20 p.m. Sunday evening, a drone was seen hovering over the Terminal 3 building at Ben Gurion International Airport. The incident took place shortly after U.S. Vice President Mike Pence stepped off Air Force Two. Vice President Mike Pence had just arrived in Israel, making it his first visit to the Jewish state since being sworn into office last January.
All flights to and from Ben Gurion Airport were briefly grounded, resulting in an immediate shutdown of Ben Gurion’s airspace and delaying all arrivals and departures for 10 minutes. After suspicion of a safety incident was ruled out, departures and landings resumed.
The Airports Authority views the use of drones in the airport area as a severe offense and stresses that it is forbidden to fly drones in the airport area. Following the incident, a complaint was sent to the Israel Police and an operational debriefing was held.
This incident is not the first time a drone has penetrated Israeli airport airspace. Just last month, an unmanned aircraft penetrated the airspace over Ben Gurion Airport just after midnight, forcing a temporary shutdown of the airport to both departing and arriving flights.