Drones at Gatwick

Phew we were lucky just got out of Gatwick before it closed. Spending Christmas in Paphos Cyprus.

Razzy

It will be interesting to know what employees are being told and their understanding of the situation.

I hope you post again.

Bluebelle I couldn't care less what you think. I think I'm quite in order of what I think as the last time I looked we are a free-speech county ?
So you don't think that this a++hole is putting lives at risk ?
Think again !!
As long as it's not in your backyard,eh ?

It isn't just some hobbyist doing this - drones are programmed to prevent them flying with 1km of an aerodrome. This would have had to be disabled to get so close to Gatwick. They can't be shot down as they are tiny and moving about all the time, as well as being a few hundred feet in the air, pretty tricky. There is a reason there is a big penalty for people who do this. Stray aircraft wander into major airports airspace, they can't be shot down either, and aircraft would again hold, divert or be grounded.
The problem as always is that "the public" feel it is their right to fly drones if they want to. Many aircraft have had drones flying much too close to them, usually the drones aren't traced. There will be a major drone-aircraft collision at some point.
I suspect that as this is 2 drones, and they've been going for more than 12 hours, they must be professional ones, and they must be returning somewhere to be recharged, perhaps there are quite a few of them working in relay.
Safest option is always to close the runway; yes it causes a huge amount of disruption, which usually the airlines have to swallow. But no-one wants to be the first to have a drone fly through their engine, or break their windscreen/ flight controls/ hydraulics.

There was an expert on local radio today who said in his opinion this is either an industrial drone which has had any tracking disabled or one which has been specifically made by the idiots controlling it.

These drones have very sophisticated software that our airport security are not able to jam.
My son in law is in software security, he believes this is either terrorists or environmentalists and that they’re using very advanced technology.

Ellenvanin I think it’s well out of order to say it might be Far left it might equally be Far right or someone mentally ill or just someone enjoying disrupting the country and putting lives at danger it’s far too early to start accusing anyone

Why can't they track them in the air, they must return somewhere to get their batteries recharged.

My son works at Gatwick so I'll get the full picture from him tonight. I think a lot of the problem may be that Gatwick is in the middle of fields- right next to M23. I presume that makes it difficult to police but I find it hard to believe that we have no army or police sharp shooters who could not hit a drone with a telescopic sight. We were surprised the last time we flew out how many armed police are on site now. Makes you feel more comfortable but this just goes to show it is not always the immediate area they need to police. I'll ask son exactly what they were told tonight. It makes my blood boil that some scumbag is sitting out there laughing at the havoc & heartache he has caused. I heard one family on the radio this morning who are trying to get to Mum's bedside as she is critically ill.
What a Bas*ard!

I have just been hearing that critically ill patients at our hospital have had all scans cancelled due to isotope not getting out of Gatwick. Tv seems to focus on the inconvenience for holiday makers and , while I sympathise with them there are much more serious consequences to this for some.

Was it Einstein who said that some people have a problem for every solution ? ?

The problem is that people don't play by the rules. They will find ways of bringing in unregistered drones and defeating technology used against them. It will all be part of the game. Even banning them altogether won't work because there will be people capable of building them.

About time you needed a licence and a unique code for these things. Then they could be traced.

Also they need to be fitted with a disabling device.

Whoever is doing this is either a terrorist or someone ( far left ) with a ruddy great chip on their shoulder about people flying to different destinations without a hope in Hell of the perpetrator ever being able to do so.

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 !

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

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 ?

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.

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

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?

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 . . . . .

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.

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.

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.