Good morning from Ho Chi Minh City, and welcome to the latest edition of the Vietnam Weekly. To new readers: everyone gets the same opening section of the newsletter, but only paying subscribers get access to the whole thing, plus the exclusive mid-week articles.
You can upgrade to a paid subscription below.
Drone Chaos
On Tuesday, multiple drone sightings by flight crews near Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport forced two separate hour-long suspensions of all takeoffs and landings.
According to Việt Nam News, the first report came from a plane that had taken off, with a drone spotted around 549 meters (1,800 feet) high. Another flight coming in for landing about 10 miles from the airport saw a separate drone at about 914 meters (3,000 feet) in altitude.
At 6:28 pm, the control tower suspended all takeoffs and landings, following standard safety protocols. Flight operations resumed at 7:16 pm, and less than 30 minutes later, another drone was reported, halting activity again, this time until 8:34 pm.
Dozens of flights were impacted, though the exact number isn’t consistent across news outlets: Tuổi Trẻ reported up to 60, while VnExpress said the number was over 100.
Some flights on their way to the airport entered holding patterns, while others were diverted to Cần Thơ, Cam Ranh, Phú Quốc, Buôn Ma Thuột, and Đà Nẵng. (Liên Khương, the airport for Đà Lạt, is closer than some of those but is closed for major upgrades until next week.)
Vietnam Airlines had the most flights affected, while coverage of these incidents has only mentioned domestic airlines by name, so it’s unclear how many international carriers were impacted.
More flights had to be rescheduled through the evening given the late arrivals and diverted planes.
This is the first time such incidents have occurred at TSN, and a significant investigation can be expected given the impact on Vietnam’s largest airport. The altitudes these drones were spotted at would rule out standard consumer drones, which max out around 500 meters but are limited to far less than that in many markets.
However, other airports have dealt with similar situations before. Hanoi’s Nội Bài and Hải Phòng’s Cát Bi were disrupted by drones and a kite in June, while Đà Nẵng International Airport reported six drone intrusions from February to April before deploying a drone detection system.
Coincidentally, on Wednesday, the government created the National Committee on Aviation Security and Facilitation.
The rest of today’s edition, for paid subscribers:
- Mekolor’s baffling saga. The CEO of the unknown company that bid US$100 billion to build Vietnam’s high-speed rail once said: “bluffing at the national level could land you in serious legal trouble.” Last week the police proved him right.
- Data Corner: a US$77 billion hole in the banking system, 328 students retake the high school graduation exam with police dogs providing security, and a karaoke piracy bust.
Subscribe for US$6/month or US$60/year.
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.