Drone or balloon? Amsterdam-Schiphol airport closes runway over near-miss 

Amsterdam-Schiphol international airport (AMS) had to be closed for around 45 minutes on September 27, 2025, at 12.10pm after a mysterious drone came within 50 meters away of an incoming Transavia aircraft. 

The incoming flight was about to land at runway 18R/36L, popularly known as “Polderbaan runway”, when the crew reported an unidentified flying object in its proximity. 

Security forces searched the area with the support of a helicopter, but were unable to locate neither the suspected drone nor those operating it. 

Some Dutch media outlets such as news channel NOS and dronewatch.nl, a Dutch site which tracks developments in the drone industry, have reported that the object sighted at Schiphol airport may have been a balloon.  

In support of the balloon theory are audio recordings of communications between pilots and air traffic control in which the pilots of two other aircraft report the presence of what looks like a balloon. However, other pilots that also sighted the object differ in its description. At least another pilot, in addition to the Transavia one, also refers to it as a drone. 

The affected runway was reopened at around 1pm on the same day, thus minimizing disruption to the airport, one of Europe’s busiest. 

The incident occurred amidst a heightened state of alert across northern Europe after a series of reported drone sightings in the vicinity of airports and military bases. On September 23, 2025, Copenhagen (CPH) and Oslo (OSL) airports were shut down for several hours after unidentified drones were spotted. The following day it was turn of Aalborg airport (AAL) in northern Denmark, to close down for the same reason. Other drone sightings were reported at several military facilities around the Baltic area, as well. 

While most details of these overflights remain unknown, the Danish government as well as numerous defense analysts have pointed at a possible Russian connection and have pointed at the fact that several Russian and Russian-linked ships had been near Danish waters at the time of the incidents. The post Drone or balloon? Amsterdam-Schiphol airport closes runway over near-miss  appeared first on AeroTime.

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