Vancouver International Airport was closed to takeoffs and landings for 20 minutes on January 31 at 1: 15 p. m. due to reports of an unknown "target of interest", as has been revealed by a Transport Canada incident report.

"By the time the fighters were getting close, it was determined that there was nothing there", Lieut. David Lavallee, spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said.

Although the initial Transport Canada report had categorized the happening as "prohibited/restricted airspace violation", it turned out to be a false radar reading instead of a haywire aircraft.

"It's something that happens from time to time with radar, but, of course, we can't take the chance that it's nothing, so we went through our processes", said Lieut. Lavallee.

In order to ensure that no such confusions happen further, the authorities are trying to come up with new strategies and designs.