An international flight was grounded because of pilot safety fears about sky lanterns floating over an airport, and while a plane coming into land elsewhere it narrowly missed one of the airborne hazards, new figures show.
The lanterns – increasingly released for wedding and birthday celebrations, Bonfire Night and New Year – are a growing problem for pilots and airlines, data released by the Civil Aviation Authority reveal.
Details of 21 incidents involving sky lanterns at airports in the last two years have been released by the CAA, after a Freedom of Information request by Antoinette Sandbach AM, who represents North Wales at the Welsh Assembly.
She is leading a campaign to have sales of the lanterns blocked in Wales – already several councils have barred the release of the lanterns and helium balloons on their land.
She said:
“Releasing sky lanterns is a relatively recent trend in the UK, but they have now become widely used at celebrations. While they may look pretty, the reality is that it is the release of a flying fire risk and litter the countryside.
“I have argued the lanterns also pose a major risk to aircraft, both in the air and causing potential hazards on runways – the information by the CAA proves this is the situation. However I am surprised that there is no central collation of figures of incidents caused by these lanterns.
“Also, I am deeply concerned that the CAA did not investigate, nor take any action against those who set off the lanterns. In one instance the airfield was aware that lanterns were about to be launched – 18 of them were later recovered from the runways and airfield.
“Unless we take action now to stop the sales of these airborne hazards, it is only a matter of time before a sky lantern is responsible for a major air tragedy.
“In addition, the lanterns can cause major fires when they land – such as the £6m blaze in the West Midlands last summer – plus the frames, made from wire or bamboo, pose a real risk to livestock for farmers,” added Ms Sandbach, who farms in the Elwy valley, Conwy.
She’s been deluged with emails from people who have been injured trying to light the lanterns, or had cars and buildings damaged when they land. The Marine Conservation Society and Keep Wales Tidy along with the Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) have also called for an outright ban.
The incidents listed by the CAA show that in November 2012 sky lanterns over an airfield grounded a 375-seater A340 plane – used for international flights by airlines such as Virgin Atlantic, Luthansa, Iberia and SAA. The pilot elected not to depart for safety reasons, said the CAA report.
Three days later the pilot of a 30-seater Jetstream JS41 said the plane, as it turned in its final approach to the runway, came “into close proximity with a Chinese Lantern.” The CAA report added: “Pilot stated Chinese lantern narrowly missed the wing of the aircraft.” The CAA has not named the airfield, but the planes are among those operated by Eastern Airways from Humberside Airport in North Lincolnshire.
Other incidents include:
- pilots reporting the lanterns in the sky near Heathrow -the world’s busiest international airport – while the pilot of a 124-seater Airbus A319 on his final descent saw half a dozen lanterns, and alerted London Terminal Control Centre and Thames Radar, part of the National Air traffic Control System
- a Brazilian-made 50-seat Embraer EMB145 – as used by the military and for private charters – was halted on a runway when lanterns were spotted on the ground and removed. The next day another lantern was found on the actual taxi-way
- the most recent incident was last November, when a pilot reported seeing a sky lantern just by their position as the plane took off – days before that lanterns were discovered on an airfield – fireworks displays had been taking place nearby
- and at another airfield a control tower worker had to leave their post to clear a fallen sky lantern from the plane manoeuvring area
In its response to Ms Sandbach’s Freedom of Information request about the number of incidents involving the lantern, the CAA wrote: “The CAA does not ‘respond’ to incidents involving sky lanterns, and as such does not incur costs or hold specific information about any damage caused.
“However, incident reports are provided to the CAA under the terms of the Mandatory Occurrence Reporting (MOR) scheme, as described under Article 226 of the Air Navigation Order 2009 (ANO). Each report made is reviewed and, where appropriate, further investigation carried out and action taken.
“We have searched the UK CAA MOR database for any report involving a ‘sky lantern’ for the period 1 November 2011 to all processed reports as at 3 February 2014 and have found 21 such reports of which none have been subject to an investigation by the UK CAA.”
