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PILOTS landing at Glasgow Aiport have been faced with chaos - because of a vintage lightbulb at a house below.

National Air Traffic Services (NATS) uncovered the problem - which was causing radio interference for all pilots in the area.

They found that pilots in and out of Glasgow Airport were being affected by the radio blackout between 6000 and 10,000 feet in the air  - and were left with a "needle in a haystack" job of working out where the problem was coming from.

The issue was so bad, in fact, that any aircraft in the vicinity of the interference would not be able to hear any air traffic control messages because their signal was swamped by interference. 

Glasgow Times: The 'vintage' lightbulbThe 'vintage' lightbulb

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Ofcom engineers, with the help of NATS, were given the job of identifying the problem - creating an "area of probability" on a map where they could focus their search.

Flight-tracking software and a boots-on-the-ground investigation found the source of the issue - four vintage lightbulbs that an owner had recently bought online. 

It emerged that due to the contrsuction of the bulbs, they were radiating a "noise" when they were switched on that affected a wide range of "spectrum", not just one frequency.

The house was found directly underneath the flightpath of the aircraft - therefore anytime an aircraft flew over the house and the bulbs were in use, the crew suffered interference.

A statement on Ofcom's website reads: "Unfortunately for the owner – but fortunately for the crew and passengers of flights in and out of Glasgow Airport – the bulbs were removed from the sockets and checks with NATS and aircraft operators confirm that the area is now free of interference.

"Now our spectrum enforcement team will follow up the case with the lightbulb suppliers, to make sure the bulbs aren’t sold to any more unwitting customers."