Portuguese IT, defence and aerospace group Tekever has been seen flying a drone over the English Channel near Dover. It is likely to be searching for migrants on boats.
On aviation website FlightAware, the flight popped up suddenly, already airborne at 240 metres. In neon green, the flight-tracking website showed an apparently muddled path, tracing a scribble alongside the coastline between Dover and the village of Camber before landing at Lydd Airport in Kent around four hours later.
FlightAware labelled the flight under the tail number G-TEKV, a code that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) database registers as a “fixed-wing landplane (unmanned)”. Aka: a drone
CAA records show the unmanned aircraft flying with the tail number G-TEKV is the 7.3m x 4.0m AR5 model manufactured by the Portuguese IT, defence and aerospace group Tekever. In the UK, G-TEKV is registered to Tekever’s office in the University of Southampton’s Science Park.
The CAA imposed airspace restrictions on 2 December and last until 31 March 2020. The CAA said aircraft can only enter the “temporary danger areas”, which can be put in place with less than 24 hours’ notice, after being cleared by air traffic control.They are limited to 1,200ft above sea level and will not affect commercial passenger planes.