LONDON — All departures were briefly grounded at London Heathrow Airport on Tuesday morning after a suspected drone sighting near Terminal 5 triggered a temporary freeze on outbound flights.
Operational takeoffs were brought to a complete halt at 10:07 BST following reports of an unauthorized unmanned aerial vehicle in the vicinity. Air traffic control immediately suspended departures as a precautionary safety measure to ensure the airfield remained secure.
Prior to the full grounding, Loganair flight LM622 bound for Dundee was the final aircraft cleared for takeoff, departing safely from runway 27R.
Airport authorities and local police conducted an immediate sweep of the affected airspace. Finding no further threat, flight operations were authorized to resume just 12 minutes later at 10:19 BST. The pause ended with the departure of British Airways flight BA570, bound for Milan.
Although brief, the 12-minute suspension caused minor domino-effect delays for morning departures across Heathrow’s busy schedules. Arrivals remained unaffected during the stoppage and that normal flight operations quickly restored across all runways. Police are continuing to monitor the area around the airfield perimeter.
