A Dublin drone sighting reported by an Aer Lingus Regional pilot has triggered a Garda and Defence Forces investigation. The report comes days ahead of a planned visit by U.S. President Donald Trump.
The pilot was flying an ATR 72-600 operated by Emerald Airlines on a route from Cornwall into Dublin. At approximately 5:20 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 8, the pilot contacted Dublin Air Traffic Control. The pilot then reported a large black drone visible off the aircraft’s left side. Audio of the exchange, later confirmed as genuine, has circulated online.
What the Pilot Described
A record of the air traffic control transmission, reviewed by The Irish Times, shows the pilot’s report. The pilot placed the object at roughly 6,000 feet — the same altitude as the aircraft. The object was about 3 kilometers (two miles) away.
The pilot located the sighting about 10 miles from LAPMO, a navigation fix near Howth in north County Dublin. That position puts the object off the County Wicklow coast near Bray and Greystones. Additionally, The Journal reported the drone was outside the 12-nautical-mile limit of Irish airspace at the time.
Meanwhile, controllers queried other aircraft in the area, but none reported seeing the object. However, the drone did not appear on air traffic control radar.
Coast Guard Search, Garda and Defence Forces Investigate
The Irish Coast Guard dispatched a helicopter to the area. It spent several hours searching the airspace over Dublin Bay without confirming the object’s presence, according to Irish Times reporting.
AirNav Ireland, the state body that handles aviation safety occurrence reports, confirmed it filed a report on the sighting. The agency passed that report to police “in line with our normal safety procedures.”
Separately, the Irish Aviation Authority said it received its own notification of the sighting. The authority confirmed no authorized civilian drone operations were taking place in the area at the time.
Garda confirmed it was “aware of an alleged sighting of an unconfirmed object over the Irish Sea, off the east coast.” The force added it was investigating “in conjunction with the relevant authorities.” Taoiseach Micheál Martin told reporters that gardaí are examining the matter “along with the Defence Forces.” He cautioned, however, that the sighting remains “unverified at the moment.”
A Familiar Pattern of Drone Sightings at Dublin Airport
This is not Ireland’s first unresolved drone scare tied to Dublin’s airspace. In December 2025, crew aboard the Irish naval vessel LÉ William Butler Yeats were on patrol near Dublin Airport. They spotted up to five large drones near the airport’s glide path on the night Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived, prompting a Garda Special Detective Unit investigation. That probe, closed out roughly four months later, never identified who was responsible.
Tuesday’s sighting came amid heightened security tied to Ireland’s EU Council presidency. It also arrived days before Trump’s scheduled visit to Dublin and County Clare. Government officials referenced recent European drone disruptions as reasons for continued vigilance, even while stressing this report remains unconfirmed. Those recent incidents include an August incursion at Leipzig/Halle Airport in Germany and a series of sightings in Denmark.
The Irish Air Line Pilots’ Association said the incident underscores a broader gap. “Unauthorised drone activity in the vicinity of airports presents a serious and entirely avoidable risk to commercial aviation,” said IALPA president Capt. Daniel Langan. He called for tighter coordination between airport operators, the IAA, gardaí and aviation authorities. The goal, he said, is to detect and deter unauthorized drones near airports.
No flights were diverted or delayed as a direct result of Tuesday’s sighting, and no device has been recovered. As with other European incursions, the case rests on visual reports from flight crews, not radar or radio-frequency detection. Notably, a similar incident led to a nearly hour-long shutdown at Málaga Airport last month.
Sources
- The Irish Times — “Civilian aircraft reports sighting of large drone close to Dublin Bay”
- RTÉ News — “Drone activity not on same scale as during Zelensky visit”
- The Journal.ie — “Pilot reports seeing large drone off Irish coast during approach to Dublin Airport”
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