Copenhagen airport closure due to reported drone activity

[Kyle Ferriter]

There are a number of towers to the left of the ATC tower if you are near the terminals looking SE towards the tower, which are difficult/impossible to see in 3D mode, but which can be seen from certain street view positions. We should keep in mind these images are old, and may also not reflect more temporary things like construction cranes, etc.

There also what appear to be visibility beacons at the marina which is further SSE of the ATC tower along the water, and a cell tower on top of the fort a bit past that. Those may be too low though, but I'm not sure.

(left) 1 of at least 3 beacon towers at marina | (right) cell tower at fort

I still think the view from the NW area of gates, looking SE across runway 12/30 towards the ATC tower makes sense for the 2nd portion of the nrk.no video, but if there are additional plausible vantage points we should pin those down precisely.

 

[ThomasH]

Confirmed: e.g. TV4 News's webpage

Malmöparet såg enorm drönare utanför balkongen: "Ringde polisen"

Vid 21-tiden på måndagskvällen stängde Kastrups luftrum efter larm om flera stora drönare.
Drygt en timme senare såg Malmöparet Sara och Paul en "enormt stor" drönare utanför sitt fönster.
– Då ringde vi polisen direkt, säger Sara till TV4 Nyheterna.
Det var vid 21-tiden på måndagskvällen som flera stora drönare observerades över Köpenhamns flygplats. Luftrummet stängdes av och över 30 avgångar fick ställas in och 50 plan omdirigerades.
Drygt ett timme senare såg Malmöparet Sara och Paul något märkligt utanför sitt fönster.
– Vi trodde först att det var ett flygplan, men sen tog min sambo fram kikaren och såg att det var en enormt stor drönare, säger Sara till TV4 Nyheterna.
"Var väldigt nära vår balkong"

-- https://www.tv4.se/artikel/3GNOdZJu...nare-utanfoer-balkongen-ringde-polisen-direkt
Deepl's translation of same, which looks perfectly cromulent to me:

Malmö couple saw huge drones outside their balcony: 'Called the police'

At around 9 p.m. on Monday evening, Kastrup's airspace was closed after reports of several large drones.
Just over an hour later, Malmö couple Sara and Paul saw a 'huge' drone outside their window.
'We called the police immediately,' Sara told TV4 News.
It was around 9 p.m. on Monday evening that several large drones were observed over Copenhagen Airport. The airspace was closed, over 30 departures were cancelled and 50 planes were diverted.
Just over an hour later, Sara and Paul saw something strange outside their window.
'At first we thought it was an aeroplane, but then my partner got out his binoculars and saw that it was a huge drone,' Sara told TV4 News.
'It was very close to our balcony.'

They probably saw the only planed allowed to land.

 

[gargamel]

Confirmed: e.g. TV4 News's webpage

Malmöparet såg enorm drönare utanför balkongen: "Ringde polisen"

Vid 21-tiden på måndagskvällen stängde Kastrups luftrum efter larm om flera stora drönare.
Drygt en timme senare såg Malmöparet Sara och Paul en "enormt stor" drönare utanför sitt fönster.
– Då ringde vi polisen direkt, säger Sara till TV4 Nyheterna.
Det var vid 21-tiden på måndagskvällen som flera stora drönare observerades över Köpenhamns flygplats. Luftrummet stängdes av och över 30 avgångar fick ställas in och 50 plan omdirigerades.
Drygt ett timme senare såg Malmöparet Sara och Paul något märkligt utanför sitt fönster.
– Vi trodde först att det var ett flygplan, men sen tog min sambo fram kikaren och såg att det var en enormt stor drönare, säger Sara till TV4 Nyheterna.
"Var väldigt nära vår balkong"

-- https://www.tv4.se/artikel/3GNOdZJu...nare-utanfoer-balkongen-ringde-polisen-direkt
Deepl's translation of same, which looks perfectly cromulent to me:

Malmö couple saw huge drones outside their balcony: 'Called the police'

At around 9 p.m. on Monday evening, Kastrup's airspace was closed after reports of several large drones.
Just over an hour later, Malmö couple Sara and Paul saw a 'huge' drone outside their window.
'We called the police immediately,' Sara told TV4 News.
It was around 9 p.m. on Monday evening that several large drones were observed over Copenhagen Airport. The airspace was closed, over 30 departures were cancelled and 50 planes were diverted.
Just over an hour later, Sara and Paul saw something strange outside their window.
'At first we thought it was an aeroplane, but then my partner got out his binoculars and saw that it was a huge drone,' Sara told TV4 News.
'It was very close to our balcony.'

This is an hour or two later and this testimonial, if taken at face value actually sounds like your typical quadcopter drone, being described as "hovering" etc.

Completely different characteristics from the CPH thing and the on-cue flurry of "any and all lights in the sky must be related"-reports.

But I am intrigued indeed. At the same time I have an annoying feeling, let's say.

 

[Trailblazer]

Yes number 2 - you can also the it lighten up the clouds. It's 99.9% that - but a bit annoying because the movement of the plane in Sitrec looks very much the same as the video, if it was shot at the other place.

Yes I agree that does look like a closer match for the video.

So do we have two objects? The first one is definitely the plane.

The second one, if that is the right location, look like it came in more from this kind of angle...

Which raises the question of which plane this was. If it was the same one as the first part of the video, it is a Norwegian one (and the voices in the second part of the clip are apparently Norwegian).

NSZ5613 reached that point at about 18:22 UTC and NSZ5075 a couple of minutes later. Those were the last two planes to take off before the closure, as far as I can see.

NSZ3234 also reached that point on the taxiway, at 18:31, and then waited for some time as it was not allowed to take off. It was joined a bit later on by NSZ3234.

 

[ThomasH]

There are a number of towers to the left of the ATC tower if you are near the terminals looking SE towards the tower, which are difficult/impossible to see in 3D mode, but which can be seen from certain street view positions. We should keep in mind these images are old, and may also not reflect more temporary things like construction cranes, etc.

View attachment 84291

There also what appear to be visibility beacons at the marina which is further SSE of the ATC tower along the water, and a cell tower on top of the fort a bit past that. Those may be too low though, but I'm not sure.
View attachment 84292
(left) 1 of at least 3 beacon towers at marina | (right) cell tower at fort
View attachment 84293View attachment 84294

I still think the view from the NW area of gates, looking SE across runway 12/30 towards the ATC tower makes sense for the 2nd portion of the nrk.no video, but if there are additional plausible vantage points we should pin those down precisely.

But they are not lit up like that. You can se how well it matches from "my" location. I displaced the two a bit.
And the clouds are lit up too like this photo.

 

[ThomasH]

Yes I agree that does look like a closer match for the video.

So do we have two objects? The first one is definitely the plane.

The second one, if that is the right location, look like it came in more from this kind of angle...

View attachment 84295

Which raises the question of which plane this was. If it was the same one as the first part of the video, it is a Norwegian one (and the voices in the second part of the clip are apparently Norwegian).

NSZ5613 reached that point at about 18:22 UTC and NSZ5075 a couple of minutes later. Those were the last two planes to take off before the closure, as far as I can see.

NSZ3234 also reached that point on the taxiway, at 18:31, and then waited for some time as it was not allowed to take off. It was joined a bit later on by NSZ3234.

I can't see it in other ways, that the green one IS a drone. I believe there was one or more drones in this case, but it's still fun to see if all the private observations was planes

 

[Kyle Ferriter]

But they are not lit up like that. You can se how well it matches from "my" location. I displaced the two a bit.
And the clouds are lit up too like this photo.

Ah, this helps. I think you are right about the bridge being in the background.

The two videos clips appended together and posted by nrk.no have no provenance or background details that I've seen, so it is possible each clip was filmed by a different person, on different airplanes, and the second clip was not filmed from one of those two Norwegian airlines planes. It's also possible they are out of order, with the first clip actually occurring second. If we had the original video files this would be resolved in minutes.

 

[Trailblazer]

I still think the view from the NW area of gates, looking SE across runway 12/30 towards the ATC tower makes sense for the 2nd portion of the nrk.no video, but if there are additional plausible vantage points we should pin those down precisely.

It was nagging me that the control tower looked too distant in the Google Earth match-up. IMO your location does look a better match - but if you look at the position of the other Norwegian plane (5613) at 18:19:50 then it could still be a match...

However your suggested location seems a better match with the cluster of buildings to the left as well.

Although Street View does seem to indicate a construction site there in 2023... or is it just a tip? The plot thickens!

 

[ThomasH]

Ah, this helps. I think you are right about the bridge being in the background.

The two videos clips appended together and posted by nrk.no have no provenance or background details that I've seen, so it is possible each clip was filmed by a different person, on different airplanes, and the second clip was not filmed from one of those two Norwegian airlines planes. It's also possible they are out of order, with the first clip actually occurring second. If we had the original video files this would be resolved in minutes.

Thanks. I could be so cool though, if again the only clips shows were planes
But I think there was drones this time. The Government, military etc. have been meeting all day.

But one thing is sure, now it's dark, everyone will see drones tonight and report every light in the sky

 

[ThomasH]

It was nagging me that the control tower looked too distant in the Google Earth match-up. IMO your location does look a better match - but if you look at the position of the other Norwegian plane (5613) at 18:19:50 then it could still be a match...

View attachment 84303

However your suggested location seems a better match with the cluster of buildings to the left as well.
View attachment 84304


Although Street View does seem to indicate a construction site there in 2023... or is it just a tip? The plot thickens!

View attachment 84305

It's hard to detarmen the distance of the phone video vs. Google Earth's super wide view, but the angle is right.
Do you want me to drive out there to look after construction cranes etc. ? ...probably not a good night to sneak around taking pictures

 

[Kyle Ferriter]

I have emailed the NRK tip address asking if they can provide more information on the videos that were submitted to them, such as GPS location or timestamps.

 

[Trailblazer]

Regarding the two objects in the Norwegian video, one thing I have noticed is that the strobe pattern seems to be identical in both clips. It's a double flash and then a longer pause, and the time between flashes seems to be the same, to within the limits of what I can time.

I don't know whether aircraft strobes have a mandated speed (if they do, I couldn't find anything), so the fact the pattern is the same gives weight to the idea that they are the same object.

 

[Mendel]

I don't know whether aircraft strobes have a mandated speed (if they do, I couldn't find anything), so the fact the pattern is the same gives weight to the idea that they are the same object.

the mandate is, "at least X/min, at most Y/min", with lots of room for variation, which is sensible, given these things used to be electromechanical.

 

[jarlrmai]

Regarding the two objects in the Norwegian video, one thing I have noticed is that the strobe pattern seems to be identical in both clips. It's a double flash and then a longer pause, and the time between flashes seems to be the same, to within the limits of what I can time.

I don't know whether aircraft strobes have a mandated speed (if they do, I couldn't find anything), so the fact the pattern is the same gives weight to the idea that they are the same object.

Strobe rates generally have to be within a set of guidelines but vary aircraft to aircraft and in some cases (military/police/air ambulances) they are often user controllable, its not clear if this can be the case for other non official aircraft though.

 

[Kyle Ferriter]

NRK reporting on the Oslo airport drone reports and shutdown yesterday a few hours after the Copenhagen one (NOT the confirmed drone incident at a tourist location near Oslo which resulted in 2 arrests) says investigators are considering that there may not have actually been any drones there.

https://www.nrk.no/stor-oslo/fremde...servert_-_-motstridende-forstaelse-1.17582950

Translated by google:

Still unclear whether drones were observed: – Conflicting understanding
Police Director Håkon Skulstad says that the Eastern Police District is still investigating whether drones were observed on Tuesday night.

– It is still unclear what was observed. There are conflicting understandings of the observations that were made, says Skulstad and continues:

– Now we are collecting material that Avinor and the Armed Forces and others have, to see this in context and to clarify what things actually happened. But it is still unclear whether it is a drone or not.

Skulstad further explains that the observations may be due to light of a different nature or a celestial body that is perceived as a drone.

According to the police director, the observations were made by both airport employees and the police themselves.

There is maybe a typo in the above snippet, and the longer article it links to:

Oslo Airport was closed for three hours on Tuesday night as a result. Copenhagen Airport Kastrup was also closed on Monday evening.

Source: https://www.nrk.no/stor-oslo/politi...att-uavklart-hva-som-ble-observert-1.17581396

Here it refers to "Tuesday night" while also referring to the police statements from Monday night elsewhere and the Copenhagen shut down Monday which was the same evening as the Oslo shutdown (which extended to the early morning on Tuesday, ~3:30am local time). I think it may be mixing up the days by conflating police statements from today (Tuesday) with when airspace was shut down (Monday evening). Oslo airport airspace was never closed on Tuesday evening (the evening occurring right now).

 

[Trailblazer]

I have timed the flashes using the millisecond counter in Quicktime. The frame rate of the video means this is slight guesswork in places, but here it is. Each pair has a bright flash (bold) followed by a fainter flash.

Clip 1 (distant craft over terminal):

0.61
0.93 (gap 0.32s)

(gap 1.07s)

2.00
2.34 (0.34s)

(1.13s)

3.48
3.80 (0.32s)

(flash hidden behind tail of plane)

6.42
6.74 (0.32s)

(1.12s)

7.86
8.17 (0.31s)

Mean longer gap = 1.107s
Mean shorter gap = 0.322s
Total = 1.429s

Clip 2 (closer craft flying towards plane):

12.03
12.35 (0.32s)

(1.09s)

13.44
13.81 (0.37s)

(1.12s)

14.93
15.25 (0.32s)

(1.13s)

16.38
16.73 (0.35s)

(1.09s)

17.82
18.12 (0.30s)

(1.14s)

19.25
19.61 (0.36s)

(1.10s)

20.71
21.06 (0.35s)

(1.14s)

22.20
22.47 (0.27s)

Mean longer gap = 1.112s
Mean shorter gap = 0.330s
Total = 1.442s


So the flash interval seems to be the same to within about a hundredth of a second between the two clips.
Bear in mind this was timed off a screen recording of the video, which seemed to freeze and go a little glitchy at the end so I discounted the last couple of flashes.

 

[ThomasH]

I have timed the flashes using the millisecond counter in Quicktime. The frame rate of the video means this is slight guesswork in places, but here it is. Each pair has a bright flash (bold) followed by a fainter flash.

Clip 1 (distant craft over terminal):

0.61
0.93 (gap 0.32s)

(gap 1.07s)

2.00
2.34 (0.34s)

(1.13s)

3.48
3.80 (0.32s)

(flash hidden behind tail of plane)

6.42
6.74 (0.32s)

(1.12s)

7.86
8.17 (0.31s)

Mean longer gap = 1.107s
Mean shorter gap = 0.322s
Total = 1.429s

Clip 2 (closer craft flying towards plane):

12.03
12.35 (0.32s)

(1.09s)

13.44
13.81 (0.37s)

(1.12s)

14.93
15.25 (0.32s)

(1.13s)

16.38
16.73 (0.35s)

(1.09s)

17.82
18.12 (0.30s)

(1.14s)

19.25
19.61 (0.36s)

(1.10s)

20.71
21.06 (0.35s)

(1.14s)

22.20
22.47 (0.27s)

Mean longer gap = 1.112s
Mean shorter gap = 0.330s
Total = 1.442s


So the flash interval seems to be the same to within about a hundredth of a second between the two clips.
Bear in mind this was timed off a screen recording of the video, which seemed to freeze and go a little glitchy at the end so I discounted the last couple of flashes.

That's pretty close!
BTW a good trick is to time many blinks and divide by the number, that give a more precise interval - but maybe you did that already

 

[Trailblazer]

That's pretty close!
BTW a good trick is to time many blinks and divide by the number, that give a more precise interval - but maybe you did that already

That's how I did it at first - I timed six double flashes (five total intervals) at 7.2 seconds, so 1.44 per flash, but I was interested in the intermediate timing.

I also just looked at the Danish TV clip from post 17 which has another two clips, one from the terminal building and one from an unknown location on the airport. There aren't so many flashes visible there but the first clip seems to match the same pattern as the Norwegian one:

???
11.05

(1.13s)

12.18
12.55 (0.33s)

(1.10s)

13.65
13.95 (0.30s)

The second clip in that video, however, doesn't seem to match. Instead of a double flash of red lights it looks more like a flickering white strobe which is hard to time accurately especially as it keeps going out of focus. Could that be a different craft?

 

[Trailblazer]

Which one do you mean? There are two other tall objects to the left of the tower. I assume you mean number 2 here?


View attachment 84288

Looking at a static screenshot I had missed that the tall object labelled 1 here is just the tail of another plane on the ground. You can see the red strobe light in this frame:

It looks as though it is facing the camera but pointing at a slight angle to the right. Can that help to identify the filming plane? It's once again leading me back to NSZ5613... see this screenshot, taken at the moment when OY-CBT (small plane heading NW) is coming towards NSZ5613 (in red).

Notice the plane in front of the red one, on the ground and facing towards and to the right, which looks to be in the right spot relative to the plane in flight too. That was SAS flight SK549.

There should also be two planes on the ground heading right to left in the distance - there are some patches of light but I don't see any strobes.

View from the Norwegian plane...

However from this angle the bridge would be more or less behind the plane I have drawn in on the ground, so something still isn't adding up.

 

[Kyle Ferriter]

I keep going back and forth. I'm actually coming around to the idea that at least the second part of the NRK video is not filmed from any of the 3 Norwegian airlines planes which are visible on FR24 between 18:15 and 18:26 (NSZ5613, NSZ5075, NSZ3234). And could actually be filmed from a different plane than the clip in the first 8 seconds of that video.

Even ignoring the aircraft flying overhead, I don't think any of those 3 Norwegian planes are themselves stationary while having that line of sight on a stationary plane on the ground and the ATC tower to the right of it. But there is the possibility that the plane filmed from or the plane on the ground in the video are planes which are not indicated on FR24 because they are not close enough to departure time to be broadcasting.

There were 3 other Norwegian flights scheduled to leave after NSZ5613, but did not, because the airport shut down. The first 2 of these planes were parked at their gates at 18:19UTC, and the 3rd never arrived because it was diverted.

Norwegian departures scheduled after NSZ5613 (last Norwegian plane to depart on Sept 22)

18:30Z fn:D83234 call:NSZ3234 reg:SE-RTM <- arrived gate A4. pulled back at 18:21, did not depart
18:35Z fn:D85373 call:NSZ5ML reg:LN-FGF <- arrived gate A22
19:25Z fn:D82063 reg:SE-RXA <- never arrived

There are other Norwegian planes which arrived and were not even scheduled to depart again on Sept 22, and would have been on the ground during this period. For example SE-NAC you can see pull into gate A18, and it does not depart again on a flight on Sept 22.
https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/se-nac#3c54158e

Is it possible the person who filmed the video was not a passenger, but rather an airport/airline staff member who could have been on an inactive plane?

If it was a staff member then it also opens up the possibilities that the stationary plane they were on or the stationary plane on the ground in the video were not near the terminals, but rather could be somewhere like this hangar area or one one of the strips of pavement in this area of the airport. Which also could line up more with the bridge @ThomasH pointed out looks like is in the background.

EDIT: but even then, actually, the lines of sight are hard to make work. I think the top of runway 22R makes the most sense for the bridge and ATC tower lines of sight. But it needs to be further constrained by there being that airplane on the ground which is shown in the video.

There is a person who Christopher Sharp found in the r/ufos reddit thread and cited in his LiberationTimes article, who claims they were there when it happened, and personally saw the "drones". Though they are fully on board with the idea that they were advanced NHI technology, not human-made drones. And it sounds like the person works in aviation, potentially at the airport. However from their comments in the thread it does not seem like they filmed the video, because they actually agree that the video does not show drones (they say it shows a helicopter)

 

[Kyle Ferriter]

From 18:10 to 18:26, there are no planes ever stationary in the red circled region, which would be between the top of 22R and the ATC tower.

At 18:37, there is. VOE2119, (fn: V72119, reg: EC-NGL). It is an Airbus A319-112.

And it happens to be while NSZ3234 (fn: D83234, reg: SE-RTM) is just north of 22R, also stationary because it was halted on its way to depart. VOE2119 also happens to be oriented towards and to the right from the perspective of NSZ3234. I think this may be the layout for the second part of that NRK video. And it is long after OY-CDT has left the area.

 

[Kyle Ferriter]

VOE2119 leaves its parked spot near 22R at 20:40UTC
NSZ5ML leaves its parked spot near 22R at 21:04UTC
NSZ3234 leaves its parked spot near 22R at 21:16UTC

So I guess next question is whether this aircraft passing low overhead is actually an non-ADSB police/military helicopter/drone or surveillance plane which flew overhead between ~18:36UTC and say, 20:40UTC, while the airport is shut down and VOE2119 is positioned between two Norwegian airplanes and the ATC tower. Perhaps the low passes by OYCDT did trigger an airport shutdown, but law enforcement aircraft which were sent up later to investigate are what are depicted in this video?

 

[Godfred Juhl]

From Post: "The task force is flown in over Copenhagen Airport
Huge operation after serious incident in Copenhagen right now. Here the task force is flown in by helicopter. Read details in the comments section"

Moderator note: added link: https://presse-fotos.dk/kaempe-aktion-lukker-koebenhavns-lufthavn-alle-fly-paa-jorden/

and...




"The airspace was completely closed for several hours at Copenhagen Airport. Nevertheless, objects are seen flying in the area.
You can read much more in the first comment"

 

[Godfred Juhl]

Still of Eurocopter Fennec

 

[Trailblazer]

And it happens to be while NSZ3234 (fn: D83234, reg: SE-RTM) is just north of 22R, also stationary because it was halted on its way to depart. VOE2119 also happens to be oriented towards and to the right from the perspective of NSZ3234. I think this may be the layout for the second part of that NRK video. And it is long after OY-CDT has left the area.

I came to the same conclusion last night but it was too late in the evening to start posting screenshots.

In red here, with NSZ3234 being the lowest of the three yellow planes.

It seems maybe too close to match the video though? Maybe a 3D Airbus model would help.

Edit: And in fact it looks like it definitely was 3234 - see two posts down.

 

[Trailblazer]

"The airspace was completely closed for several hours at Copenhagen Airport. Nevertheless, objects are seen flying in the area."

It's worth pointing out that this claim is not entirely true. Planes weren't taking off or landing at the airport but there doesn't seem to have been much if any exclusion of overflights and observers would still have seen plenty of air traffic, as well as the planes in holding patterns over the Øresund.

For example Ryanair FR4413 flew close to overhead (about three miles north of the runway) at 36,000ft at 19:11 UTC. Eurowings 7219 followed a similar path at 30,000ft at 19:38, and at the same time a Bombardier was lined up straight towards the airport from the south before turning left to land at Roskilde.

 

[Trailblazer]

I had failed to notice this, which looks like it solves the question of the identity of the plane the video was filmed from:

https://www.nrk.no/urix/droner-stenger-kobenhavn-lufthavn-1.17581342

– Vi satt i flyet i rundt 2,5 timer
Mandag kveld ble NRK kontaktet av en nordmann som skulle fly fra Kastrup til Norge.

– Vi fikk beskjed fra cockpit om at det var observert droner over flyplassen. Så fikk vi oppdateringer hver halvtime, uten at det var noe nytt. Flyet vårt skulle gått 20.30, men luftrommet ble stengt 20.26. Vi satt i flyet i rundt 2,5 timer, forteller nordmannen til NRK.

Han sendte over en video av det han ikke var i tvil om at var en drone:

Translation:
– We were on the plane for around 2.5 hours

On Monday evening, NRK was contacted by a Norwegian who was flying from Kastrup to Norway.

– We were told from the cockpit that drones had been observed over the airport. Then we received updates every half hour, without anything new. Our flight was supposed to leave at 20:30, but the airspace was closed at 20:26. We were on the plane for around 2.5 hours, the Norwegian tells NRK.

He sent over a video of what he had no doubt was a drone:

The only Norwegian plane that fits (destination Norway, stuck on tarmac after being stopped from taking off) was NSZ3234 to Oslo, which was scheduled to depart at 20:30.

And as @Kyle Ferriter showed in post 61, this plane and the other plane on the ground were not in that position until about 18:37, which is long after OY-CDT had left the area.

So, that isn't the plane. Which raises more questions:

1) Is it the same object in both clips? The strobe pattern seems the same, but in the first part of the video it seems to have two whitish/greenish lights plus a red beacon, rather than a single green light plus a beacon.

2) Was the first clip taken from the same location as the second? I had assumed it was at the gate but if it was actually taken from the same place that obviously changes things.

3) Why is the left wing of the plane visible in the first clip but nowhere to be seen in the second clip, even when the camera pans all the way to the right until it shows the edge of the window frame? Did the passenger move to a different seat to get a better view perhaps?

The answer to question 2 seems to be yes: the runway markings and buildings are a match:

and also matches the second clip, panning further to the right (plane icon marks where VOE2119 was parked).

So the second clip is well to the right of the first, which would explain why the wing is not visible, although I think it might still require moving seats to be able to get views that far to both left and right without obstruction?

What is strange is that the flight path in the first clip looks like it could be a pretty good match to OY-CDT, visible in the Google Earth view - but it can't be because the times don't match!

 

[Trailblazer]

I had a very rough go at sketching the path that the object takes, assuming it is the same one. Obviously this would be very dependent on altitude. I drew a line at 150 metres here....

Perhaps just coincidence but it looks like whatever flew overhead was heading more or less directly for the Naviair building, behind the plane on the ground - Naviair is the Danish air traffic control organisation.

 

[Trailblazer]

If we assume that the two clips show the same aircraft, and were therefore taken within a short time interval, then I think we can narrow down the time pretty well.
This was the situation at 18:40, just after NSZ3234 (the filming aircraft) arrived in position.

NSZ3234 is on the taxiway labelled A2. VOE2119 (visible in the second clip) is on E1. But there is a third plane, easyJet 4652 on A1, to the left of the Norwegian plane, on A1.

However, in the first clip, looking out of the left-hand side of the plane, there seems to be no sign of a plane on A1, even though we can see the yellow lines marking the stopping point:

That easyJet plane was there on A1 until 20:30 UTC, at which point it taxied back to the gate.

Eleven minutes later, at 20:41, VOE2119 left its position on E1, and E1 remained vacant after that.

Just over half an hour after that, at 21:16, NSZ3234 moved off to return to the gate.

So it looks as if there was only an 11-minute window when there was no plane on A1 but there was a plane on E1.

Based on this, the clips were filmed between 20:30 and 20:41 UTC, 10:30-10:41pm local time.

From the link posted by @Godfred Juhl above:

Presse-fotos.dks udsendte til lufthavnen oplyser klokken 22.15, at aktionsstyrken er set flyve over lufthavnen i en helikopter. Det har redaktionen desuden set videomateriale, der bekræfter.

Flere af de omdirigerede fly, der skulle lande i København, er derudover blevet sendt til Bornholm, Billund, Aarhus, Odense, svenske Gøteborg og Malmø.

Det var Naviair, der traf beslutningen om at indstille al flyvning.

Ifølge pressechefen i Københavns Lufthavn er der nu en politiefterforskning i gang med henblik på at identificere dronerne.

"Det er klart, at vi er interesserede i, at de hurtigst muligt finder ud af det, og at dronerne forsvinder, så vi kan genoptage normal drift," siger Københavns Lufthavns pressechef, Lise Agerley Kürstein til Ritzaus Bureau.

Der er endnu ingen tidshorisont for, hvornår efterforskningen er afsluttet, og flytrafikken kan genoptages.

OPDATERING:

Klokken 22.40 oplyses det, at der stadig er droneaktivitet over Københavns Lufthavn.

"Dronerne er meget tydelige, de tænder projektørlys," siger Presse-fotos.dks udsendte.

Translation:

Presse-fotos.dk's dispatcher to the airport reported at 10:15 p.m. that the task force was seen flying over the airport in a helicopter. The editorial team has also seen video material that confirms this.

Several of the diverted flights that were supposed to land in Copenhagen have also been sent to Bornholm, Billund, Aarhus, Odense, Gothenburg in Sweden and Malmö.

Naviair made the decision to suspend all flights.

According to the press officer at Copenhagen Airport, a police investigation is now underway with a view to identifying the drones.

"It is clear that we are interested in them finding out as soon as possible and that the drones disappear so that we can resume normal operations," says Copenhagen Airport's press officer, Lise Agerley Kürstein, to Ritzau's Bureau.

There is no time frame yet for when the investigation will be completed and air traffic can resume.

UPDATE:

At 10:40 PM, it was reported that there is still drone activity over Copenhagen Airport.

"The drones are very visible, they are turning on floodlights," says Presse-fotos.dk's dispatcher.

So, there was a helicopter flying around at 10:15, which is about 15-25 mins before the video seems to have been filmed. But also the "very visible" drones were present at 10:40, which is around the time of the clip.

Is it a case of the hunters being mistaken for the hunted?

 

[Godfred Juhl]

"Presse-fotos.dks udsendte til lufthavnen oplyser klokken 22.15, at aktionsstyrken er set flyve over lufthavnen i en helikopter. "
"Presse-fotos.dk's dispatcher to the airport reported at 10:15 p.m. that the task force was seen flying over the airport in a helicopter."

I am Danish and was annoyed by the poor wording. It can be understood in several ways, the most likely; that the press-fotos editorial team has been in contact with their assigned reporter at 10:15 PM and the incident has happened before this time, but it can also be understood as happening simultaneously.

 

[Trailblazer]

More drone reports from last night, as predicted:

https://presse-fotos.dk/lige-nu-mulige-droner-over-danmark-igen-nyt-sted/

I cannot get the video at the top of the page to work, but it does have a definite time and location to work with:

En tipper filmede de mystiske objekter natten til onsdag klokken 00.14. Vedkommende fortæller, at hun stod på altanen i Brøndbyøster med udsigt over Brøndby Strand, da hun pludselig fik øje på lysene over havet.

"Jeg gik ud på altanen, da jeg kom hjem fra arbejde og så dem flyve over vandet. Jeg bor i et højhus i Brøndbyøster og har udsigt over Brøndby Strand og vandet – samt hele Vestegnen. Og det er over Brøndby Strand og vandet, at de fløj," fortæller tipperen til Presse-fotos.dk.

Translation:
A tipster filmed the mysterious objects on Wednesday night at 00:14. The person says that she was standing on the balcony in Brøndbyøster overlooking Brøndby Strand when she suddenly saw the lights over the sea.

"I went out onto the balcony when I came home from work and saw them flying over the water. I live in a high-rise building in Brøndbyøster and have a view of Brøndby Strand and the water – as well as the entire Vestegnen region. And it is over Brøndby Strand and the water that they flew," the tipster tells Presse-fotos.dk.

Edit: I found the video on Facebook:



00:14 would be 22:14UTC on 23 September. Looking out to sea over Brøndby Strand (top left of this map) at that time you would have seen a procession of planes coming in to land at CPH, moving from right to left.

It can't be a coincidence that there was a lengthy gap in flights coming in from that direction, and then between 00:12 and 00:25 five planes landed using that approach, after which there was another gap.

Other incidents mentioned but without exact times:

At approximately 1:30 a.m., Presse-fotos.dk receives a new video taken from Hvidovre, where a luminous object can be seen flying in the night sky.

Around the same time, the editorial team receives even more videos, this time taken over Funen, where a flashing object can be seen flying around.

Shortly before 3:00 a.m., another tip about drone activity is received. This time on Amager. 'There is a drone hanging over Kløvermarken on Amager right now,' it says.

Early Wednesday morning, the editorial team received a tip that drone-like objects had been seen flying both in Sorø and in Roskilde late Tuesday evening – that is, before the other times.

"Shortly before 3:00am" (0100 UTC) would possibly match XQ1324 turning to approach to Copenhagen from the southwest at 0058.

Hvidovre (close to Brøndbyøster, where the video above was taken) would also have a perfect view of planes approaching Copenhagen from the south and then turning to land at the airport.

 

[flarkey]

Update on twitter from Drone Expert and Airport Security Enthusiast Christopher Sharp.

Twitter Source

So, there was a helicopter flying around at 10:15, which is about 15-25 mins before the video seems to have been filmed. But also the "very visible" drones were present at 10:40, which is around the time of the clip.

If there is a helicopter in the area we should be able to identify it. Even if it isn't on ADSB (as is the case with many police and military aircraft) we could probably at least identify the likely type and compare the lights against the video from the aircraft on the taxiway to see if it is indeed a helicopter.

Also I think the image of the "Drone" is a bit misleading. The video is recorded through the double glazing of the aircraft window which will create some internal reflections. I don't think the objects left & right of green light are actual structures.

vs

 

[JMartJr]

It's worth pointing out that this claim is not entirely true. Planes weren't taking off or landing at the airport but there doesn't seem to have been much if any exclusion of overflights and observers would still have seen plenty of air traffic, as well as the planes in holding patterns over the Øresund.

Also worth bearing in mind that people are generally bad at estimating how far away a light in the sky is -- it is very possible that "I saw a light flying over the airport" only means "I saw a flying light in the direction of the airport."

 

[Trailblazer]

Copenhagen Police are still investigating the case of unidentified drones that were observed over Copenhagen Airport on Monday evening.

In a status update on Wednesday afternoon, the police district stated that over the past 24 hours it has received more than 100 reports about drones and drone-like objects.

The reviews relate to both Monday evening at the airport, but also other places and times over the past 24 hours.

In the work of investigating the incident, which led to the closure of air traffic to and from the airport for several hours, the police are looking at shipping, among other things.

One theory is that the drones may have been launched from ships in the area, according to a press release.

Therefore, data on both air traffic and shipping is being examined, but Police Inspector Poul Kjeldsen does not want to provide information about details of the investigation.

Several media outlets have already mentioned specific ships that may be interesting in the investigation.

Recently, there have been several reports of ships suspected of having launched Russian drones.

Thus, German media have reported that the cargo ship "Scanlark" was detained by the police in Schleswig-Holstein because it was suspected of being a center for launching drones.

In Wednesday's statement, Copenhagen Police expresses understanding that the incident on Monday evening may create insecurity and extra attention to drones and drone-like objects.

- However, it is important for us to emphasize that citizens can feel safe in the knowledge that we, together with other authorities, are working purposefully to clarify the details of Monday's incident, and that people can feel safe in and around the airport area and in the police district in general, says Police Inspector Poul Kjeldsen in a press release.

The police state that the investigation is taking place in close dialogue with, among others, PET, the Danish Armed Forces and other national and international authorities.

The unknown drones and the closure of the airport led to the party leaders being summoned to a briefing by the Minister of Justice on Tuesday.

Translated, original article at https://jyllands-posten.dk/indland/ECE18570236/politiet-kommer-med-opdatering-om-droneefterforskning

The Danish police website seems to be down at the moment.

 

[Godfred Juhl]

Therefore, data on both air traffic and shipping is being examined

Personally, I believe that the known authorities present, the Police, the Police Intelligence Service, the military and perhaps more, have stood and watched each other's drones in the large airport area.

The mystery, for me, is how school(taxi) plane OY-CDT got ATC permission for the, in my opinion, risky "Low-Pass" maneuver.

 

[jdog]

I do wonder in all of these cases of "drones at [location]" how whoever is in charge establishes situational awareness during the event?

You all are doing a good job of trying to reconstruct something from recordings, but these stories are full of "drones were seen" and "police said" and it's not at all clear if officers saw things, if they're only passing along civilian reports (there was a Copenhagen couple who called in about seeing a "large drone" from their apartment), or if anyone at the airport detected anything. Did the police call the tower to alert them to the sightings and did that drive events? The airport spokeswoman said there were "two different drone sightings," but not when or by whom. Who saw "two or three large drones" for four hours and how did they know they weren't nearby aircraft?

I'm a little suspicious that the airport reopening at 12:30 a.m. followed a length of time during which apparently no lights in the sky were reported, which could just be because no airplanes were flying late at night to be mistaken as drones.

It's all very fuzzy for what's turned into an international incident. And it seems like it would be hard for the Danish government to acknowledge any overreaction at this point after accusing Russia of flying giant drones (with navigation lights) over their capital city.

 

[Kyle Ferriter]

Also I think the image of the "Drone" is a bit misleading. The video is recorded through the double glazing of the aircraft window which will create some internal reflections. I don't think the objects left & right of green light are actual structures.

Yes you can see light artifacts throughout the video, created by the windows.

For example the two points of light in the center of these two red circles are artifacts, not real objects. Possibly from the particularly bright lights a bit below and to the right of each, and created by the light bouncing between the two panes of the windows.

 

[jarlrmai]

Metabunk is probably that only place I trust to investigate these things properly, and we don't have all the info.

Solving UFO cases with low information and unreliable witnesses turns out to have been the perfect training for this kind of work.

Drone flaps are going to get more common, especially if they keep getting officials to mess up and then leave the situation ambiguous with misleading statements to cover up their knee jerk initial claims.

 

[Kyle Ferriter]

The mystery, for me, is how school(taxi) plane OY-CDT got ATC permission for the, in my opinion, risky "Low-Pass" maneuver.

It would be nice to get some official statement from the airport or ATC or the police or airspace regulatory agency about this. Or the ATC recording. Partially to get ATC radio timestamps and correlation to when they first got calls about airspace violations (unfortunately liveatc.net does not have coverage at Copenhagen airport). I also imagine ATC would have issued verbal warnings to these planes near/on runway 30 that a plane was inbound. But also to answer the question of whether these flight paths were approved at all. Especially the 2nd pass by this plane seems unlikely to have been an approved landing attempt, or even a touch-and-go landing for training purposes as I've seen suggested elsewhere. The ADSB tracks suggest runway 30 was not clear, and while the plane does start over runway 30, the lowest ADSB ping is for 350ft and it quickly veers off course from runway 30 after that.

 

[Godfred Juhl]

It would be nice to get some official statement from the airport or ATC or the police or airspace regulatory agency about this. Or the ATC recording. Partially to get ATC radio timestamps and correlation to when they first got calls about airspace violations (unfortunately liveatc.net does not have coverage at Copenhagen airport). I also imagine ATC would have issued verbal warnings to these planes near/on runway 30 that a plane was inbound. But also to answer the question of whether these flight paths were approved at all. Especially the 2nd pass by this plane looks like very unlikely to have been an approved landing attempt, or even a touch-and-go landing for training purposes as I've seen suggested elsewhere. The ADSB tracks suggest runway 30 was not clear, and while the plane does start over runway 30, the lowest ADSB ping is for 350ft and it quickly veers off course from runway 30 after that.

View attachment 84356

The OY-CDT incident has strangely not been mentioned at all in the Danish media and no briefing from authorities. I know, don't ask, that the company with the plane says it was a training flight that was agreed with the control tower. They were allowed to make a so-called low pass. Strange...