Copenhagen airport closure due to reported drone activity

Aalborg closed again 1 hr ago at 21:40UTC Sep 25.

https://nyheder.tv2.dk/live/krimi/2...rg?entry=7ff1beba-cf9a-431f-98bd-d08560743c32

ChatGPT translation:
External Quote:
Airspace closed over Aalborg
The airspace was closed again shortly before midnight Thursday.

That is confirmed by the duty officer at North Jutland Police to TV 2.

There are reports that a drone has been seen in the area, and therefore the airspace has been closed.

> "We closed the airspace here at 11:40 p.m. We have been massively present out there all day, and it is one of our own people who spotted something that appeared to look like a drone," said duty officer Christian Tilsted.

More police have now been sent to the airport, and at this point it cannot be said how long it will take.
One flight from Amsterdam to Aalborg which had recently departed was diverted back to return to Amsterdam. From the flight playback it appears it made the turn back to Amsterdam around 21:25UTC.
Screenshot 2025-09-25 at 6.39.10 PM.png


Flight number D83098 (reg: SE-RPS) was the prior plane to land at Aalborg, and did so at 20:35UTC. It did 1 loop prior to its first landing attempt, which was aborted, and did a figure 8 pattern ahead of the same runway prior to its second attempt, which was successful. 20:35 to 21:25 is enough of a gap I doubt this is related. Other traffic on ADSB Exchange between 20:35UTC and 21:40UTC looks normal. Plenty of commercial flights overhead which would be unlikely to be mistaken as a drone by a police officer who has been there for an extended period of time watching all that other traffic.
Screenshot 2025-09-25 at 6.41.36 PM.png
 
TV2 reported:
External Quote:
Luftrummet over Aalborg Lufthavn er igen blevet åbnet.

Det oplyser Nordjyllands Politi til TV 2.

- Vi har undersøgt området grundigt, og vi har ikke fundet noget, siger vagtchef Christian Tilsted.

Luftrummet nåede dermed at være lukket i en times tid, efter politiet selv havde observeret noget, man mistænkte kunne være en drone.

Det viste sig dog altså ikke at være tilfældet.
Source: https://nyheder.tv2.dk/live/krimi/2...et?entry=311d6e02-fede-4f75-8623-b83ed64b519f

translated by deepl:
External Quote:
The airspace above Aalborg Airport has been reopened.

This was reported by North Jutland Police to TV 2.

"We have thoroughly searched the area and found nothing," said duty officer Christian Tilsted.

The airspace was closed for an hour after the police observed something they suspected could be a drone.

However, this turned out not to be the case.
 
Kyle Ferriter said:
Plenty of commercial flights overhead which would be unlikely to be mistaken as a drone by a police officer who has been there for an extended period of time watching all that other traffic.
Click to expand...
Gatwick, New Jersey, New York and Wright-Patterson show that police and security even when you'd expect they wouldn't do, do in fact report navigation lights, so never say never.

I uncovered exactly this happening from FOIA at Gatwick in 2018.

You'd hope they'd mistake Starlink or something else instead but who knows... Aalborg does not look to have a military grade C-UAS installed, I checked Google Street view and videos, even up to this week.
 
The Guardian lists these events alongside other confirmed incidents of Russian antagonism: The Guardian view on Nato airspace incursions: Russia is testing European and US will. It won't stop here
The sheer volume of headlines tells its own tale. Russian drones over Poland and Romania. Russian fighter jets in Estonian airspace. Russian aircraft buzzing a German naval frigate in the Baltic Sea. Unidentified drones over Copenhagen and Oslo airports. Most recently, in the early hours of Thursday, further drones appearing at other Danish airports.

In just over a fortnight, European states have reported a striking spate of incursions into their airspace. Russia has repeatedly denied responsibility and questions remain over individual events: so far, Denmark has said only that a "professional actor" was at work in the airport incidents and that it can't rule out Russia. But overall, there is a pattern which fits clearly into Moscow's longer record of provocations and often implausible deniability – and which amounts to a notable escalation.
Click to expand...

In all the news conference coverage I still haven't found anything solid presented about the Danish drone sightings. The political conclusion seems to be that the airports were disrupted, so someone intended to cause disruption; the drones couldn't be found or tracked, so they must have been part of a professional operation.

Deutsche Welle News asked a military analyst about the complexity of this sort of operation and he wound up saying we don't really know anything, other than the reports were that the drones were seeing flying for several hours and off-the-shelf drones wouldn't be able to stay up that long.
Source: https://youtu.be/82XdwDzzOwg?si=csBFQc6U27waZOMk
 
TinFoilHat said:
https://www.newsweek.com/russia-drones-denmark-russia-vessel-nato-10781347

"Danish authorities have reported the sighting of a Russian warship on the edge of Danish waters with its tracking system turned off, indicating it is likely trying to avoid detection, according to Danish outlet Ekstra Bladet.

A helicopter spotted the Russian vessel, identified as the landing vessel Aleksandr Shabalin, off the coast of Langeland, Denmark.

The vessel has been sailing along Danish waters while Denmark also has suffered what officials have labelled a "hybrid attack" of drones flying through the country's airspace and disrupting the operations of critical infrastructure, prompting Denmark to invoke NATO Article 4."
Click to expand...
Russian warships with tracking turned off are not uncommon?

If I was Russia, and I was not operating in Denmark, I would be curious what these reports are about, and I would send a ship equipped with the capability (radar) to look inland and monitor the airspace, see what it picks up.
 
Aaaaand another one.

https://www.sverigesradio.se/artikel/larm-om-dronare-over-karlskrona-skargard

https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/blekinge/misstankt-dronare-har-flugit-over-karlskrona-skargard

"Around 11PM", "very large", "red and green lights" etc. Apparently observed from the Möcklösund bridge by locals and soon, police that arrived at the scene.

Shame they don't provide more detailed information about the time and azimuth.

A cursory glance reveals that several airlines were near the area at 11pm/22 UTC, eastern parts of Karlskrona archipelago. Assuming the time is roughly right, Norwegian NOZ1577 came in from over the Baltic right there and then.
 
gargamel said:
Aaaaand another one.

https://www.sverigesradio.se/artikel/larm-om-dronare-over-karlskrona-skargard

https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/blekinge/misstankt-dronare-har-flugit-over-karlskrona-skargard

"Around 11PM", "very large", "red and green lights" etc. Apparently observed from the Möcklösund bridge by locals and soon, police that arrived at the scene.

Shame they don't provide more detailed information about the time and azimuth.

A cursory glance reveals that several airlines were near the area at 11pm/22 UTC, eastern parts of Karlskrona archipelago. Assuming the time is roughly right, Norwegian NOZ1577 came in from over the Baltic right there and then.
Click to expand...
Correction: 11pm Swedish time would be 2100 UTC. DY1553 flew north almost overhead at 2048. FR2885 flew westwards, some way to the north about 2052. SK2680 approached from the south and passed by to the east about 2106. SK2690 passed on a very similar track 5 or 6 minutes later. All were at high altitude though.

From the second link (translated):

External Quote:

On Thursday evening, several residents on Sturkö and Tjurkö reported a suspicious drone.

– It is unclear what it is, but we have filed a report of a violation of the Aviation Act, says Mattias Lundgren at the Karlskrona police.

A report is also made of a violation of the Protection Act.

Data on multiple drones
According to the Police Command Center, there are two drones, which several witnesses saw flashing red and green.

– Now the patrols have to submit their information and we will collect witness statements and see if we can move forward with any of it, says Evelina Olsson at the command center.

No objects have been seized and there is no suspect in the case. However, the police see a clear connection to recent events in Denmark and Norway, where drones were discovered over Kastrup, among other things.

– We react because the drone probably reminds us of them, says Mattias Lundgren.

Searching on Twitter finds a post saying the first report was earlier, about 8.30pm local time:

Source: https://x.com/Existenzse/status/1971476319083823389

External Quote:
Translation:
Suspected drones over Karlskrona archipelago

Several residents on Sturkö and Tjurkö raised the alarm on Thursday evening about two suspected drones in Karlskrona's eastern archipelago. According to reports, they were larger models, similar to those previously observed over Denmark and Skåne. The first call to the police came in around 20:30.
A 747 cargo plane did fly right over the archipelago at 8.31pm local time, at 35,000ft. But you would think local residents would be used to seeing such things.
 
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jdog said:
In all the news conference coverage I still haven't found anything solid presented about the Danish drone sightings. The political conclusion seems to be that the airports were disrupted, so someone intended to cause disruption; the drones couldn't be found or tracked, so they must have been part of a professional operation.
Click to expand...
It was the same last year with the New Jersey flap. There was a real opportunity for a news site to do a deep dive into the phenomenon of misidentification and show what was going on, but nobody stepped up to do so.
 
The problem seems to be seemingly everyone else has a vested (short term) 'interest/bias' in this being rogue drones or (aliens)

The police/security/military forces want better gear, because drones are real and they are seeing what is happening in Ukraine and Russia is next door.
They and a lot of politicians want a ramped up NATO/EU response to Russia's border provocations.
The press want an interesting story and clicks / ad views
The UFO people want weird drones no-one can find because it's more 'evidence' of NHI or reverse engineered tech or whatever flavour of conspiracy they are attaching to this.

No-one "wants" this to just be mis-id'd regular air traffic even though that is all we've actually ever seen evidence of and yet the more this happens and everyone says it's nefarious drones and no-one disables one, captures an operator, shows us the drone the more the distrust and lack of faith in the officials to tell the truth/handle the situation will grow.
 
jarlrmai said:
The problem seems to be seemingly everyone else has a vested (short term) 'interest/bias' in this being rogue drones or (aliens)

The police/security/military forces want better gear, because drones are real and they are seeing what is happening in Ukraine and Russia is next door.
They and a lot of politicians want a ramped up NATO/EU response to Russia's border provocations.
The press want an interesting story and clicks / ad views
The UFO people want weird drones no-one can find because it's more 'evidence' of NHI or reverse engineered tech or whatever flavour of conspiracy they are attaching to this.

No-one "wants" this to just be mis-id'd regular air traffic even though that is all we've actually ever seen evidence of and yet the more this happens and everyone says it's nefarious drones and no-one disables one, captures an operator, shows us the drone the more the distrust and lack of faith in the officials to tell the truth/handle the situation will grow.
Click to expand...

Also, assuming that these are a threat to security & safety is the "safe" approach. Ignoring reports of drones over an airport would be reckless from an aviation safety point of view, and ignoring the hypothesis that they were foreign spy drones would be reckless from a National Security point of view. We also have to be mindful that sometimes things happen and they are not caught on camera - so all we can really say is that all the 'drones' caught on camera appear to be consistent with them being planes or helicopters, and hope that someone eventually gets a good video of an alien space ship drone.
 
flarkey said:
Also, assuming that these are a threat to security & safety is the "safe" approach.
Click to expand...
Yes, for the authorities. But it's not responsible journalism.

Imagine someone phones in a bomb threat. Should the police evacuate the building? For sure! But when they then don't find the bomb, should the newspapers run blurry photos of unidentifiable objects off facebook and caption them "potential bomb spotted"? Or should they headline "bomb scare--no bomb found"?

The whole drone flap runs off the presumption "the 'government' is too incompetent to find drones", which is at heart a conspiracy theory element, and can also come as "there are drones, but they're covering it up".
 
Mendel said:
Yes, for the authorities. But it's not responsible journalism.

Imagine someone phones in a bomb threat. Should the police evacuate the building? For sure! But when they then don't find the bomb, should the newspapers run blurry photos of unidentifiable objects off facebook and caption them "potential bomb spotted"? Or should they headline "bomb scare--no bomb found"?

The whole drone flap runs off the presumption "the 'government' is too incompetent to find drones", which is at heart a conspiracy theory element, and can also come as "there are drones, but they're covering it up".
Click to expand...

I agree. The issue we have nowadays is that even if the newspapers put out a headline of "bomb scare--no bomb found" the self-proclaimed citizen journalists on Twitter & YouTube with tens of thousands of followers all over the world can create a convincing response in minutes - which is then shared like a virus thousands of times amongst their most enthusiastic readers - that backs up the story "there are drones, but they're covering it up"! We are not just in "the information age", but also "the mis-information age".
 
Mendel said:
The whole drone flap runs off the presumption "the 'government' is too incompetent to find drones", which is at heart a conspiracy theory element, and can also come as "there are drones, but they're covering it up".
Click to expand...
But opening the airport again suggests that they have confidence in there not being drones around. So they must have some capabilities.

The presumption is that there was something there in the first place which has yet to be confirmed in a single case as far as I'm aware.
 
The dichotomy of response is what sticks out

Close the airport because of reports of drones, fine.
Open the airport soon after because they weren't drones, fair enough.
Later have the general line be "there were drones, and they were nefarious" but they are "gone now" without a trace, into the ether questions the decision to reopen the airport, but of course having the airport closed for an extended period of time is very, very disruptive and economically bad.

Its got Jaws mayor vibes except with Schrödinger's shark.
 
A source for the Billund" drone being a star.

nyheder.tv2.dk/live/krimi/2025-09-22-droner-forstyrrer-luftrummet-over-danske-lufthavne/billund-luftrum-var-lukket-efter-anmeldelse-om-droneaktivitet?entry=696c871a-80f4-41b3-87af-77b21cf2cb8a

The page is in Danish, but the item at 9:33 reads in English (Google Translated)
"The airspace over Billund Airport was briefly closed on Friday morning after a report of illegal drone activity – but it turned out to be a shining star in the sky.

This was stated by the South East Jutland Police in an email to TV 2.

According to Billund Airport, the airspace was closed for 20 minutes from 6:05 to 6:25, but this had no impact on air traffic, says Dan Prangsgaard, Senior Manager Press & Public.

Naviair informs TV 2 that the airspace over Billund Airport was briefly closed twice during the night.

Southeast Jutland Police only have information about the incident early this morning, but say if it was a special incident "we would probably have reported it already"."
 
Mendel said:
Russian warships with tracking turned off are not uncommon?

If I was Russia, and I was not operating in Denmark, I would be curious what these reports are about, and I would send a ship equipped with the capability (radar) to look inland and monitor the airspace, see what it picks up.
Click to expand...
No. That's the sort of thing someone in FSB solves with a phone call to an agent-in-place. Quick, discrete, deniable.

Sending a naval vessel is a reasonable means of intelligence collection if the activity of interest is otherwise inaccessible and worth the time and effort of tying up a crew of several hundred on an easily spotted platform for an extended period. And this is not the sort of ship you would send on an intelligence gathering mission. It's the naval version of a armored personnel carrier, essentially a floating delivery truck.

[edited to add comments]

Other explanations for the presence of this vessel not related to the drone flap are familiarization with potential areas for future military operations and/or intimidation. This last is right out of Moscow's Cold War playbook and would be otherwise unremarkable if not for the hot war in Ukraine and the recent MiG-31 incursion into NATO's Baltic airspace. In context I think the intimidation angle best accounts for the presence of this vessel.
 
Last edited:
Trailblazer said:
Correction: 11pm Swedish time would be 2100 UTC. DY1553 flew north almost overhead at 2048. FR2885 flew westwards, some way to the north about 2052. SK2680 approached from the south and passed by to the east about 2106. SK2690 passed on a very similar track 5 or 6 minutes later. All were at high altitude though.
Click to expand...

I shortened your post a bit, and I appreciate the heads-up regarding time. So CET is currently UTC+2.

Here is what seems to be the first observation in that area, at 21:10-21:15 per the eyewitness:
https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/b...ll-misstankta-dronarflygningen-pulserade-vitt

I will translate what he says:
It was about 21:10 or 21:15. The farmers are driving on these fields so I went outside to see if they were still around but they weren't. That's when the drones appeared over here, two of them, one after another

- And what did they look like, what did you see?

Yes, they were whirring and roaring, and they were blinking. White, I thought the lamps were, that were pulsating. So then I understood that it was drones. Because here there are JAS-planes* and everything, every day. And helicopters, you can hear them. Yesterday, the Coast Guard flew over with their plane, that was a different sound.

- Where did they disappear to?

Over there, towards Karlskrona.

- So behind the treetops over there?

Yes, they disappeared beyond the trees there.
Click to expand...
*JAS 39 Gripen. Most people just refer to them as JAS.

The man is standing on the southern side of the aforementioned bridge, by the edge of the field here:
56°08'04.3"N 15°44'07.5"E
And it adds up with the good old phone book etc, so that's definitely the place.

He points northeast in the direction of the bridge, so they came from the east and flew west, north of him.

There was an SAS plane (SAS1785) that roughly matches this, but it was alone and a fair bit further north, flying at 30k feet. So I don't think this particular observation is a regular airliner.

Given that the military has said it is "not on their table" I don't think it's foreign drones or any UAP either. They would have been very concerned if something unknown flew towards Karlskrona (Sweden's main naval port, the entire area is a forbidden flight zone, and they regularly catch and fine fishermen and kayaking tourists who stray a bit too far among the islands there) and the military airbase in Kallinge a bit further west on the same path.

If I would hazard a guess I'd actually say it was two military helicopters, in spite of what the man says. Helicopters, especially turbine-powered ones can sound incredibly different depending on atmospheric conditions and how sound propagation changes. Sometimes you hear the rotors really well, and they can sound very different too (doppler effects and what not), other times the whining turbine really breaks through, and even the roar of the hot exhaust.

They often fly "silent" (ie transponders off), in pairs. Seen it tons of times, UH60s and A109s. And the military never comments on their flights, unless they've caused sonic booms or so, that upset the general public. Then they sometimes issue a dry comment about "a routine task was performed" and leave it at that.

So that's my theory so to speak, until something more substantial pops up, or they outright deny it was them.

Nota bene that it is only his observation I am talking about, not the later ones in the same area.
 
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gargamel said:
This, I am fairly certain is Jupiter.


Source: https://x.com/enigmalabs/status/1971330246222999893?t=lkOEybgKiPn1Lzg0J1RblA

The location is at the Bella Center metro station, facing directly east.
Click to expand...

Let's assume that the rapid changes in luminance we see in the video are real rather than a camera artifact...

Jupiter can scintillate if conditions are just right, but it's rare. Much more likely to be a bright star. Best candidates are Rigel, Procyon or Sirius. Capella would be too high in the sky. Without seeing other stars, and with the vague time of observation (today at AM) it's not possible to tell.

If we can trust this...
...it's been suspended in the air without moving for about three hours.
Click to expand...

...I'd say that Sirius is least likely because it rises late. Rigel rises a little earlier than Procyon and is brighter... so if I had to bet, I'd bet on Rigel. But that's shaky.

Rigel is also farther to the west (our right). If this is Rigel, Procyon would be hidden by the buildings. But if it were Procyon, we'd probably see Rigel to our right. I'm going with Rigel.

I wouldn't trust the compass direction (due East) too much either without some more solid evidence. So even Vega is a long shot candidate.
 
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jdog said:
...reports were that the drones were seeing flying for several hours and off-the-shelf drones wouldn't be able to stay up that long.
Click to expand...
There are, of course, things that DO stay in the sky for hours, every night when it is not cloudy!

See Post #10 in this thread

JMartJr said:
It looks to me like, at 18:20 (just to chose a time that is in the relevant range) Saturn would have been about 30 degrees elevation to roughly SSE, and Capella about the same to the ENE. Along with Vega a bit higher in the W, and Jupiter just rising at about that time to the NE, getting higher as the evening progressed. (... there were a couple of bright astronomical objects available to be seen and reported as hovering drones, as they have been reported as UFOs repeatedly in the past, once people had been told to be on he lookout for drones, and at an elevation comfortably spotted by somebody watching for drones around the airport perimeter...
Click to expand...
(Bits about whether I have the time right snipped as less relevant to this post!)

EDITED: Hit"Post reply" inadvertently, everything after quote from jdog added! And odd double-copy of something cleaned up,,,
 
Mick West said:
This is, 100%, Betelgeuse, all the labeled stars here are visible in the version on Enigma's site.

View attachment 84469

Levels + Echo (8 frames, Max)

View attachment 84470
Click to expand...

Brilliant, yes, conclusive there.

I geolocated the footage and went by the (admittedly rather vague) "AM" thing, and the brightest celestial object in that direction was Jupiter, based on the vague data. Venus did show up later too, but wouldn't match the "I saw it for hours"-description.

With the brightness maxed out and the more precise timing provided later it is an open and shut case.
 
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jarlrmai said:
I added the metro station and the other building into Sitrec but I can't place the camera accurately enough to recreate the exact view as the controls are not fine enough.

https://www.metabunk.org/sitrec/?custom=https://sitrec.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/11433/Copenhagen metro/20250926_162626.js
Click to expand...
My experience in Blender, when placing things on a google maps plane is, that you have to put it on the bottom of the house etc. not the top. Also that it's often not that accurate, because the house you see, can be in the corner of the aerial photo and in the middle,
 
I can't do this anymore, it's simply too stupid! :(
https://www.bt.dk/samfund/lokal-i-vadum-spottede-drone-de-floej-lige-over-mig
External Quote:

---
I observed these drones at my house between 11:45 PM and 11:50 PM on Thursday night.

"At first I thought it was an airplane. But as it approached, I had no doubt at all. The two drones were flying right behind each other, and they were clearly two different types of drones. One was a little bigger than the other, and they were glowing green and red."
How can you be sure it's a drone?

"First of all, it didn't make a lot of noise like an airplane, and it had a little smoke behind it," she says.
---
I'm starting to doubt there even was a single drone in the first place.
....so sad our stupid Prime Minister is doing all she can, to make Russia bomb us first.
 

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Mick West said:
This is, 100%, Betelgeuse, all the labeled stars here are visible in the version on Enigma's site.
Click to expand...
Which, alas, is 100% irrelevant. People - can I call them idiots without violating the politeness policy? - are getting spooked by stars. Stars. Things that we've seen for hundreds of millennia. Things we created fairy-stories about before we understood anything about the physical world around us.
 
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