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Langen (dpa) - In the German airspace, fewer dangerous drones were spotted last year than last year.
The German Air Traffic Control (DFS) registered 92 obstructions to regular air traffic over the course of the year after 125 in 2019. However, the number of incidents did not decrease as much as the entire flight operations, reported the federal air traffic controller organization on Monday in Langen near Frankfurt.
2018 remains a record year with 158 drone incidents.
Around 80 percent of the disabilities caused by drones took place in the vicinity of the large commercial airports.
According to DFS, around a third of the incidents resulted in traffic restrictions.
At the beginning of the year, for example, the largest German airport in Frankfurt had to be completely closed for a total of four and a half hours for security reasons.
There were also indications of a targeted disruptive action, which led to criminal proceedings against strangers.
Frankfurt again had the most drone sightings among the airports with 24 cases.
This is followed by Hamburg with ten and Berlin-Tegel with eight cases.
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Air traffic control already assumes when a drone is sighted that regular air traffic will be hindered because controllers and pilots could be distracted.
In Germany, drone flights are prohibited near the take-off and landing areas of airports - a distance of at least 1.5 kilometers must be maintained.
Drone flights at airports are prosecuted.
They are legally considered a dangerous interference with air traffic and are punishable by imprisonment of up to ten years.
Air traffic control tested several systems in Munich and Frankfurt last autumn to automatically detect drones.
To protect the airports, corresponding contracts are to be put out to tender.
German air traffic control on the rules for drone flights
Communication from German air traffic control