Interruption of flights in Gaziantep, Turkey due to UFO sighting
- Faun Grey
- Feb 20
- 2 min read
By Faun Grey
On Monday night, February 17, pilots at Gaziantep Airport reported a UFO causing the suspension of flights due to its luminous and unidentified nature. A bright, unidentified object was spotted by pilots of an aircraft at an altitude of 8,000 to 10,000 feet around 10:00 p.m. in the local time (GMT+3).
A warning about unidentified flying objects caused a momentary disruption at the airport in Turkey's sixth largest city. Gaziantep, situated near the Turkish-Syrian border, is located in southeastern Turkey.
The unidentified object, not detected by radar, was notified to air traffic control, resulting in the suspension of flights as a safety measure.
According to a Turkish specialist, the source of the light could potentially be a Starlink satellite.
Potential drone association
After the suspension, authorities carried out investigations in the vicinity of the airport. Once it was ascertained that there was no immediate danger, flights were able to resume after approximately three hours.
The investigation is currently in progress and authorities are considering the potential that the item may have been a remotely operated aircraft.
January incident may be related
On January 29, 2025, pilots at Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen Airport were alerted by the traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) and conducted a thorough search in the area. Despite efforts, authorities were unable to identify the cause of these warnings.
Upon being alerted, the pilots promptly notified air traffic controllers, resulting in a joint search operation by air, sea, and land. Despite some pilots suggesting the possibility of a drone or ship being the cause of the warnings, no definitive proof was found by the search teams.
Communication via radio between pilots and air traffic control indicated the critical nature of the circumstance. According to one pilot's report, while on the final approach at an altitude of 300 feet, they received a traffic alert that could potentially be from a drone or another aircraft. This information was shared for awareness purposes.
According to the response from the control tower, they had previously received similar warnings and had been dealing with it for two and a half hours. Other flights before the current one had also been given the same warning. The control tower had already reported this to the coastal authorities.
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