Drones at Gatwick

Not sure how exactly the airport could stop someone who chooses to illegally fly a drone over its runways?
The alternative to closing the airport is continue with flights and risk it’s planes and passengers not a realistic alternative.

Such a shame for all the travellers but I’d rather be on the ground than in a crash.

I would have hoped that with all our expensive technology, aerospace industry, military & secret services, radar, etc that this sort of thing could be prevented in the first place.

We spend billions on defence but cheap drones can bring a major airport to a standstill.

Why don't they shoot them down. ?

There should be something in-situ at airports to zap these nuisance things and bring them down.

Having sat on a stationery plane for three hours once and eventually slept on the airport floor I can so feel for these poor people on the tv this morning who had sat on the plane on the runway for six hours and even then wre at the wrong airport (Birmingham instead of Gatwick) I can really really feel for them
I think there has to be much tighter rules on drones, who owns them and where they are used and they should be shot and destroy if seen in a forbidden place, they should have to be registered with a number on them so if found they can be traced to the owner no one under 21 should be allowed and huge fines for those that disobey and jail if they cause safety disruption I don’t know maybe these things already happen I don’t know
If a plane had come down through their use it doesn’t bear thinking about
I recently read how wild animals can be badly disturbed and frightened by the use of drones taking photos of them
Last Christmas at 8.30 in the morning we had a knock on the door .......a man looking for his drone !!!
I m not a fan

I started a thread a while back, apropos of, I think, a plane coming into land very close to a drone, possibly at Gatwick. So yes everything Bluebell has just said, the consequences of such a collision could be catastrophic. I really can't fathom why an individual's desire to ponce about with what is really a sophisticated toy should trounce the safety of so many. I'm not a fan either. Very sorry for those people who had their travel so disrupted by this incident, including babies who were forced to sit on the tarmac having being diverted to another airport without any milk

Only the criminally-minded would use these drones in such a way, like those other menacing things---laser pens. The minds of these miscreants is one of destruction and they should be zapped as well with a full strength taser.
The law isn't coming down on these criminals strong enough seeing as their intention is to cause a catastrophe !

Unfortunately the people who do this are complete morons who think it is funny. It is illegal to fly drones within 1km of an airport - shooting them down would solve the problem but airports would have to keep sharp shooters permanently on site.

I don't think shooting them down would solve the problem - it would destroy any chance of tracing the owner and potentially damage aircraft on the ground.

I wasn’t thinking of shooting down by one man and his gun I would have thought there were more sophisticated electronic means to abort them but I know nowt about technical stuff really

I'm sure these drones can be de-activated without causing damage/destruction to nearby aircraft etc. Surely some sort of a " signal " will divert them from the airport as they're computer controlled ?

Jon Snow of Channel 4 News has tweeted

If London’s second Airport - Gatwick _ can be defeated by a couple of drones..shutting the entire place down for 12 hours+ what does it say of the UKs much vaunted defences upon which we spend so many billions?

They won't shoot them down because they are worried about the stray bullets. Understandable.

I think it must be criminal intent because it was done in the night so I can't think of any other reason for using them at that time.

I am worried about those who will copycat.

Could John Snow explain how other countries would deal with the problem.

Does anybody know what other countries security systems are for such an issue?

Is there a known way of dealing with this problem?

I have not heard anybody make a coherent way of dealing with this problem in / on the media.

I agree with BlueBelle. Surely there's a more sophisticated way to deactivate these things. Interfere with the signal to them as they are remotely activated? Hellish for all these passengers to be so severely affected by these idiots.

POGS just before 09.00 on BBC News, Justin Urquhart Stewart, a regular on the Business slot said words to the effect that he was flabbergasted at the way this was being handled.

He said on an archaeological dig he was on in Israel, if the drones went more than two minutes over their time, the army electronically zapped them. As he was talking about this relation to Gatwick I presume it was done in a way that would be suitable at an airport.

With all the techie wizardry that abounds I'm surprised that the drones can't be disabled or that control of the drones can't be electronically transferred to Gatwick staff.

It certainly raises a few questions regarding security . . . . .

I'm wondering if some ecological/green fanatic is behind this idiotic situation. The timing of course was entirely deliberate to coincide with the busy Christmas getaway.

After all the 'greens' hate air travel don't they?

I agree with Jon Snow, its a sad indictment on our defences and technology when this can happen.

The drones may be terror-related - or even instigated by Russia to upset things at the airport. They are doing a lot of buzzing in our airspace recently, and anyone who watched "Warship" will have seen about Russian intimidation. I think there's more to this than we know.

I heard on one of the news broadcasts that there was a malicious motive behind these drones. I imagine that could include terrorism. They are industrial level drones, not toys by any means.

What does the minister of aviation actually do besides sitting on her backside in Parliament ? Shouldn't she be liaising with those at Gatwick ? Doesn't she have any idea of what to do ? How can she justify her position ?

We need anti-drone technology like the US and Israel.

Come to think, how can any of them justify their ministerial positions when all they appear to do is to argue daily in Parliament ? They all get on my wick !