Forum Topic

Drone halts flights from Gatwick

My goodness!!!Drones halt Gatwick.....  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-46623754And then, there is Brexit.....

Ivonne Holliday ● 2884d45 Comments

Hope they catch the stupid people doing that ...

Michael Ixer ● 2884d

Bus in a clay-club, now. 12 bore shotguns. Blast them out of the sky. Resume flights.

Bill Christie ● 2884d

I guess that I am wrong, but I assumed that we would be able to trace the transmitter device electronically, and respond as we see fit. Some representative of the drone industry on BBC currently saying that we must not demonize drones. Oh Heaven forfend! Perhaps this drone operator should be treated as a terrorist and potential murderer.

David Ainsworth ● 2884d

Silly question, but why allow them to be sold if they cause such a problem? Or at least, make it so that they can't fly that highI mean, this could in theory start happening all the time? And is it the owners fault if the product flies a certain height, I mean wouldn't you want to fly it as high as it could go?Not saying it's not dangerousAmazon are possibly going to start using these for deliveries...... What chaos then?

Emarisa Battoia ● 2884d

Industry chap on the BBC said that it is a multi-billion pound industry, and likely to grow in the future and employ many people. Technical solutions will be needed. Annoyingly, they will probably not involve small missiles homing on the malicious drone operator.

David Ainsworth ● 2884d

I always wondered why anti-heathrow protesters didn't do this.  You'd really struggle to get the perpetrator in a dense urban area.  With some simple electronics you wouldn't even need to remote control it (autonomous drone).I think I saw an airport had equipped themselves with anti-drone drones.  Basically a drone with a big net. I suspect they don't want to blow the thing up because it is evidence to catch the person who is doing it.

Alan Sherman ● 2883d

I think the other reason for not shooting them down is they don't want small pieces of debris on runway or taxiing  areas that can puncture tyres and would take a while to clear. While they're flying they have a chance of locating where the control is transmitting from.

Michael Ixer ● 2883d

Good morning Emarisa,"Boys and their toys" comes to mind.  We see many people playing with their remote controlled cars and/or planes in Richmond Park as well as remote controlled boats in Wimbledon Park's pond.Google also uses drones for their aerial maps.Just googled drones and some of them are certainly are not cheap!!!  GBP700 to GBP1,300....I expect the element of trust and good faith comes into play when selling them as it is assumed that people would play with this drones/toys safely during day time, preferably in open spaces.  However, playing with them at night next to an airport, and a busy international airport as Gatwick for that, makes you think that the play is not good intentioned.

Ivonne Holliday ● 2883d

Totally agree with your Ivonne. I think the intention was to cause havoc, just because they can; bit like computer hackingAs they are getting used more and more some sort of solution will be needed, Maybe even a tracking device registered to the owner?

Emarisa Battoia ● 2883d

I think ownership will have to be registered soon.This kink is helpfulhttps://www.caa.co.uk/Consumers/Unmanned-aircraft-and-drones/

Ivonne Holliday ● 2883d

Gatwick Airport and all the airlines should bring a civil action for the financial loss caused if they catch the individuals involved. This would act as a great future deterrent.

Paul Clements ● 2883d

This morning when i first heard of this I assumed that it was an amateur drone, flying at a low level, and could not understand why the police didn't just bring in a couple of local farmers with 12 bore shotguns. But as it emerges that it might be several matching 'professional' drones, remotely controlled, perhaps with the operators overseas, it makes you wonder whether this might be a foreign state. Perhaps even Putin.

Bill Christie ● 2883d

I have to admit it, I quite often enjoy Peter Hitchens:-https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-6523755/PETER-HITCHENS-Britains-soppy-fight-toy-helicopter.html"I rather think that if anyone was fool enough to fly a drone over one of Moscow's major airports today, two things would happen within about half an hour. The drone would be shot out of the sky, and the person involved would be in the slammer, contemplating a lengthy spell in Siberia. If the airport ever had closed (which I doubt), it would soon be opened again."

David Ainsworth ● 2880d

I imagine the couple arrested but released without charge must be pretty angry with the newspapers displaying their photos on the front pages and screaming 'morons' at them( Daily Mail) Would it not be better if the police did not give details before people are actually charged?

Jane Carter ● 2880d

I agree Jane,  having their photographs splashed in the newspapers is horrifying!!!  What happened to the premise of "innocent till proven guilty"????

Ivonne Holliday ● 2880d

I agree David, or just about any airport on Earth!Jane and Ivonne again I totally agree. So if they didn't do it presumably the culprits are still at large ready to strike again?

Simon Knight ● 2880d

I agree Simon, the  culprits are presumably at large.The bit of "are still at large ready to strike again" does not bear thinking about!!!  Apparently the police have found a broken drone...  If it was only one drone, where are the others that were allegedly seen flying over Gatwick airport?????

Ivonne Holliday ● 2880d

"Apparently the police have found a broken drone...  If it was only one drone, where are the others that were allegedly seen flying over Gatwick airport?????"Gawd knows!!!!!!!??????? 🙄

Sue Hammond ● 2880d

According to Mail Online “MI5 took command of Gatwick drone response from Chris Grayling because someone had to get a grip”.(Chris Grayling Transport Minister)Hardly fills you with confidence.

Martine Guy ● 2880d

What was the reason for not shooting it down? Because the bullet has a range of a mile?...perhaps two? and if the marksman missed somebody could be hit by the falling bullet?With laser sights I suspect a semi-blind octogenarian would stand a fair chance and even if he/she missed the chances of being hit by the falling bullet is probably on par with being hit by a meteor.

Simon Knight ● 2880d

Probably Simon, but I suppose the drone moved quite a bit, and perhaps not to a pattern....I have no doubt that marksmen could have shot it down, provided it remained still???

Ivonne Holliday ● 2880d

I reckon your average clay pigeon/grouse shooter could have taken it down. Heath and Safety gone mad.

Simon Knight ● 2880d

You are right. This first happened at 9 p.m on Wednesday night, so Sussex police had hours where they could have located a clay-pigeon club within a few miles of Gatwick and had a few of the best shots there at daybreak. Nothing to do with dangerous stray bullets, surely shot that can bring a flying goose down could have brought this drone down? Our grandfathers would have laughed at us.

Bill Christie ● 2880d

Alas never knew either grandfather as both killed in WW2 but I'm sure both would mock.

Simon Knight ● 2880d

Interesting comments on this in the Register. Outside my sphere of knowledge so can't say it's correct, although in my experience the register normally have reasonable sources. In an interview on BBC news the police denied releasing the identity of those being interviewed and seemed rather annoyed that the papers had released the details. (Which I guess might have come from neighbours of the couple?)

Michael Ixer ● 2880d

Aren't shotguns used for clay pigeon shooting? I read somewhere that the drones were flying too high for the range of shotguns. There was another problem with using rifles - I forget what it was. However now MI5 are using some sort of secret magic!

Caroline Whitehead ● 2880d

Michael I also thought it was the couple's neighbours who released the names - they were probably the same people who shopped them to the police. Appalling behaviour from those neighbours and also the media.

Lucille Grant ● 2880d

It gets weirder:-"Gatwick drone latest: Police say it is 'a possibility there was never a drone'"https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/gatwick-drone-latest-police-say-it-is-a-possibility-there-was-never-a-drone-a4024626.html#

David Ainsworth ● 2880d

Totally bizarre!!!  But I double checked about an hour ago and no other agency seems to be reporting it other than the Standard and the Manchester Standard.....  Very odd indeed!

Ivonne Holliday ● 2880d

I'm sure on one BBC news report I heard it was said that police were carrying out forensic tests on a crashed drone they'd found.

Michael Ixer ● 2880d

Hello Michael,Yes, I heard that too and saw it on the BBC website.What I was querying were some news reports that appeared in the Standards saying there were never any drones at all....

Ivonne Holliday ● 2880d

And now the "i":-"There may have been no drones at Gatwick Airport at all, police say".https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/travel/police-looking-at-possibility-that-the-drone-flights-which-closed-gatwick-were-mistaken/

David Ainsworth ● 2880d

According to inews, as David said, it is reported that:".... Detective Chief Superintendent Jason Tingley said “We are also going through many reports of sightings of drone activity over the last few days.He added that there was “always a possibility that there may not have been any genuine drone activity in the first place”, but that officers were working on a range of information from members of the public, police officers and Gatwick staff who had said otherwise."I keep my distance from these news for the time being.  The ones to report on this are the Standard, the Manchester Standard, the Liverpool Echo, KSL and Airherald (do not know who the last two are).IF these news are confirmed as true, God help us!!! 

Ivonne Holliday ● 2880d

it's now in the respectable press too: the Times says "Gatwick drone attack farce: Device may not have existed in the first place, say police," and other papers report similar doubts.

Richard Carter ● 2880d

Yes, the news are in virtually all newspapers this morning.I really do not know what to think, it is all so bizarre, it is absolute madness!

Ivonne Holliday ● 2880d

I wonder if it has all been blown up by papers desperate for a silly season angle, based on a (slightly careless) response by the police to a reporter's tentative question. The Telegraph reported this:'Asked about speculation there was never a drone, he replied: "Of course, that's a possibility. We are working with human beings saying they have seen something." 'Puts it a bit more into perspective...

Richard Carter ● 2879d

Richard, yes I heard that on BBC news, which is obviously a possibility they have to include in their investigations but easy to get the tone of these things wrong. However, there is the recovered drone and I thought there was at least one picture of what looked like a drone in the distance?

Michael Ixer ● 2879d

Plenty of accounts of mass hysteria on record, including the Meowing Nuns in the middle ages and the Tanganyka laughing outbreak in 1962. However I'm not sure if I could recognise a drone flying at a high level. Could be a large bird - or an UFO?!

Caroline Whitehead ● 2879d

Collateral damage?:-"The press ruins Christmas for former drone suspects."https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/23/press-christmas-drone-suspects-gatwick-media

David Ainsworth ● 2879d

Yes, it could be expensive for some of thee press.

Michael Ixer ● 2879d

I really hope so Michael. 

Ivonne Holliday ● 2879d

Yesterday, the Mail was asking "ARE THESE THE MORONS WHO RUINED CHRISTMAS?" but it turns out that they were actually innocent. Today in the Mail, now that even it accepts that the "morons" are blameless, is there an apology? Of course not, all we get is Stephen Glover writing "As early as Saturday afternoon, much of the national Press suspected that blundering bobbies had arrested an innocent local couple, who were yesterday released without charge — having had their faces plastered over the front pages."It was a pity that the national press who "suspected" they were innocent did not include the Mail, which plastered their faces over its front page. What a nauseating, hypocrtical paper!

Richard Carter ● 2879d

££££££££££££ ker -ching!!!

Bill Christie ● 2879d

Just watched him being interviewed, sounding very traumatised and being comforted by friends 🙄 he even managed to squeeze out a couple of tears for good measure. I accept this must have been an unpleasant experience for them but it could also turn out to be the best thing to ever happen to them as well. Kerching indeed!

Sue Hammond ● 2879d

Well, I shall certainly sleep easier in my bed now I know that Grayling has taken charge:"Chris Grayling is seeking changes to the law which would allow officers to rapidly respond to and thwart drone attacks, including the ability to search premises of suspects and require users to produce documentation similar to a driver’s licence."https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/01/07/police-airports-will-get-new-powers-bring-drones-gatwick-chaos/amp/

Richard Carter ● 2865d