Flights Resumed About An Hour After Police Reported Seeing A UAV

Flights departing from Heathrow Airport west of London were held for about an hour Tuesday after police reported seeing a drone near the airport.

The BBC reports that an airport spokeswoman said the move was a "precautionary measure" to "prevent any threat to operational safety." She said that airport officials were working with air traffic control and the Metropolitan Police to "monitor this situation."

The first drone sightings were reported to the Metropolitan Police just after 5:00 p.m. local time, according to the report. About an hour later, the airport said on its Twitter feed "Flights at Heathrow are operating normally. Our focus is always the safety of our passengers and colleagues and we apologize to those passengers whose journeys have been unfairly affected this evening."

Prior to the resumption of flights, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said he had spoken to airport officials as well as the Home Secretary and Defense Secretary.

(Image from file)

FMI: Source report