A drone flying near Taichung Airport shut the airport down and forced military jets to land elsewhere, a worrying sign of how easily a small aircraft can disrupt a mixed military-civilian airfield.

• A drone entered the airspace near Taichung Airport on Monday night, closing it temporarily.
• Eight air force IDF fighter jets on night training had to divert to the Hsinchu air base.
• A passenger flight from Macau circled for 20 minutes before it could land.
• Police searched for the operator but have found nothing so far.
• Flying a drone within 2.6 km of the airport is banned, and offenders can lose their operating licence, face heavy fines, and have the drone seized.

Outlook: The hunt for the operator continues, and repeated incidents like this are likely to push Taiwan toward tighter drone enforcement around airports.