NEWS · NUREMBERG, GERMANY
Three pilots report an unidentified object at Nuremberg Airport
Police searched with a helicopter and found nothing. Six flights were delayed and two were diverted to Cologne and Prague while the airspace was checked.
In the early hours of Tuesday, October 13, three pilots taking off from or landing at Nuremberg Airport in Bavaria each reported a possible flying object near the airport — independently of one another, according to police quoted by the German news agency dpa.
The border police unit stationed at the airport immediately began search and detection measures together with the airport operator and DFS, Germany’s air navigation service. A police helicopter joined the search, but no drone was found.
Delays and diversions
An airport spokesperson said six flights were delayed — two arrivals and four departures. Two incoming aircraft were sent to Cologne/Bonn and Prague as a precaution, then flew on to Nuremberg once the airspace was cleared. Police have opened an investigation. The airport said the sighting had not been confirmed.
A second alarm the same day
Nuremberg had a second scare a few hours later. Shortly after midday, Corendon Airlines flight XR456, a Boeing 737-800 arriving from Corfu, broadcast transponder code 7500 — the code for a hijacking — and could not be reached by radio. Luftwaffe Eurofighters from Tactical Air Wing 74 in Neuburg were scrambled to escort it, and it landed safely.
Police said their checks found no danger, and the airline blamed a brief radio malfunction. The airport was closed until shortly after 2 p.m. According to t-online, the midday closure had nothing to do with the night-time sighting.
What was it?
Police said the object reported overnight could have been a drone, but none was found and no operator has been identified. Drone sightings have disrupted several European airports over the past year, including Luxembourg and Berlin in September. In aviation, “unidentified” only means that nobody could say what the object was at the time.
Three separate reports from professional pilots make this a stronger case than a single sighting from the ground. Without radar data, photos or video, though, there is little to analyse. We will update this story if the police investigation reports a finding.
