The uncontrolled entry into the atmosphere of the CZ-5B space object by a Chinese rocket temporarily closed the airports of Madrid, Catalonia, Zaragoza and Valladolid
About 300 flights scheduled this Friday at Spanish airports were delayed by half an hour due to the uncontrolled entry into the atmosphere of the CZ-5B space object, the central module of a Chinese rocket released October 31. An accident that forced the closure of airspace for 40 minutes in some areas of Spain. That great piece of Chinese rocket Long March-5B traveled 80 kilometers from Madrid and passed through areas of Catalonia and the north of the Balearic Islands. In total, the closed airspace covered an area of 1,200 kilometers wide and 200 kilometers high.
The first balance of operations carried out by El Prat includes delays in 157 flights, 66 of which with a delay of more than 15 minutes. There were also delays in the departures and arrivals of 17 flights at Bilbao airport and the diversion of another to nearby Santander airport. For its part, the one in Castelln suspended operations for 40 minutes and the one in Valencia hosted a flight that should have landed in Barcelona. As for the Balearic Islands, the arrival of 10 flights and another 10 departures were conditioned at Palma airport. Three arrivals were affected in Menorca and three departures in Ibiza.
After eleven in the morning, Spanish time, Enaire, the national air navigation operator, confirmed the end of the restrictions in the Spanish airspace band concerned.
The possibility that Enaire had to decree this closure of the airspace had been known for 48 hours but its application was not decided until the moment in which it was certain that the orbit of the remains of the rocket, which turns the Earth several times before falling, it was clearly defined. Finally, that big space object It crossed Spanish airspace in three minutes.according to Enaire’s director of operations, Xavier Benavent,
According to this same source, the accident led to the preventive and temporary closure of the airports of Madrid, of the Catalans (Barcelona, Lleida and Reus) and of those of Zaragoza and Valladolid. Airports in the Balearic Islands were not affected, as previously reported.
The Air Controllers anticipated at eight in the morning via their official Twitter account that the “Zero rate for certain areas of Spanish airspace” had been established and this could result in “delays on the ground and deviations in flight”. The Civil Protection then warned that it had done so “totally” limited flights to Catalonia and other communities for 40 minutes, from 9:38 to 10:18 During that time they were only allowed to fly emergency aircraft, if any, in addition to those involved in the defense missions that the Air Force was supposed to carry out.
The trajectory of that component of a Chinese rocket it crossed the entire Iberian Peninsula, from the north of Portugal, passing 80 kilometers north of Madrid and exiting Catalonia.
The snippet that generated this alert is a large space object called CZ-5B (2022-143B) launched on October 31st. This is the core module of a chinese rocket, It weighs about 20 tons and it was estimated that most would disintegrate when it entered the atmosphere. According to the Air Force, which monitored the trajectory, although there was little chance that the fragments of the rocket hit a town, the air traffic control authorities have instituted the flight exclusion strip as a precaution.
In the end, the fragment of the Chinese rocket fell at 11:01 am (Spanish time) in an area between the central and southern Pacific Oceanas confirmed by the US military.
The Twitter account of the Air Controllers advanced at 10:18 am, when the flight disruption window ended, which the forecast from then on was to progressively recover Spanish air traffic.
The difficulties of air traffic in Spain due to the return of this form of a Chinese rocket the atmosphere did not alter the plans for the Spanish-Portuguese summit to be held in Portugal, and the plane on which the president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, and the rest of his delegation landed early in the morning in Porto.
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