London Gatwick Airport CLOSED By Drones.....

[747man]

Gatwick airport delays: Armed police join hunt for drone pilot causing chaos for thousands of passengers
Officers taking part in operation to find suspect reportedly planning to shoot down unmanned aerial vehicle

Tom Barnes @thomas_barnes
52 minutes ago
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The Independent
Police have said armed officers are now involved in the operation to halt drones that have kept Gatwick closed for more than 14 hours amid a suggestion they may attempt to shoot the crafts out of the sky.

Armed police were photographed near to the runway on Thursday afternoon as investigators tried to locate the individual disrupting Britain’s second-busiest airport.

Tens of thousands of passengers have been affected by delays and cancellations as drones are repeatedly flown overhead in what police say is a “deliberate” attempt to prevent airport operations.

A spokesman for Sussex Police told The Independent the force had armed units stationed at Gatwick Airport 24 hours a day.

He added that armed officers would be part of any operation to stop the drones, which first grounded aircraft at around 9pm on Wednesday evening after flying over the perimeter fence and close to the runway.

gatwick-armed-police.jpg
Armed police are seen next to the runway at Gatwick Airport (London News Pictures)
Reports had surfaced that police would be attempting to shoot the devices out of the sky. Sussex Police would not disclose further details of armed officers' operations.

More than 20 units from two separate police forces are now hunting the pilot of the drones, who is believed to have caused disruption on a scale that will take Gatwick several days to recover from.

Superintendent Justin Burtenshaw described attempts to catch whoever is controlling the gadgets as “painstaking”, admitting it was “a difficult and challenging thing to locate them”.

“Each time we believe we get close to the operator, the drone disappears; when we look to reopen the airfield, the drone reappears,” he added.

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A Gatwick spokesman said the airport expects chaos to roll over into Friday, which is one of its busiest days of the year due to the number of people aiming to catch flights before Christmas.

“We are prioritising the welfare of passengers during this very difficult time, and have teams across the airport looking after them as best we can,” he added.

Passengers faced severe disruption as flights were unable to leave the tarmac, while others were diverted to alternative airports.

Some people reported being left stuck on planes for several hours while they waited to find out what was going on.

Luke McComiskie’s plane ended up in Manchester, and he described chaotic scenes as people tried to find their way home after more than three hours stuck on board.

“We got told there would be some arrangements with coaches for us when we get out the terminal,” he said. “It was just chaos and they had only two coaches and taxis charging people £600 to get to Gatwick.”

[GT93]

Blimey, this isn't a good look. The management at Gatwick looks as bad the political management in the UK.

I expected Gatwick to be one of the best and most efficient airports in the world but reading elsewhere I see it's been rated among the worst in Europe.

Apparently most airports are this vulnerable to mischief from drones. If I was the perp I'd be rapidly leaving the UK. If caught and convicted, this needs a deterrent sentence.

[minimiglia]

Just shoot the bloody thing with a shot gun, too easy, total over reaction as usual

[GT93]

A job for a local shooting club rather than the British military?

I feel sorry for the poor passengers.

[choi choi]

OMG!...........https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest ... Tube-video Looks like latest idea of ISS.Expect more!!

[tigerryan]

I don’t think you would have a prayer with a shotgun. You can’t really kill a duck more than about 35 yards away. My kids have a DJI drone and that thing fly high as hell you can’t even see it most of the time. I bet they nail the clowns with surveillance in short order the problem with drones is they are noisy as hell and they gotta go back to somebody trying to recover it, unless the drone is on a sinister one way mission with a payload .....hmmm

[yartims]

the boneheads have been arrested after a driver saw a cyclist packing his drones away on his pushbike ,a man and a woman .. and drone jammers have been introduced ..

[tamada]

And because some twunts thought it cool to do it, there will be a commensurate but OTT knee-jerk government reaction and the simple laws and restrictions that should have been in place years ago will be rewrote. These will impose restrictions that makes it harder for legitimate licensed drone operators and owners of companies that do aerial surveys and commercial photography to pass muster as everyone will be under ridiculous scrutiny. Worse still, they could pull a Prayuth and ban the things. Mind you, the Gatwick operator needs a kicking for not installing the anti-drone kit that's been available for ages. Now they're paying through the nose for it.

I wonder if anyone has pushed aside all this noise and asked if Heathrow is similarly vulnerable?

[bluejets]

And because some twunts thought it cool to do it, there will be a commensurate but OTT knee-jerk government reaction and the simple laws and restrictions that should have been in place years ago will be rewrote. These will impose restrictions that makes it harder for legitimate licensed drone operators and owners of companies that do aerial surveys and commercial photography to pass muster as everyone will be under ridiculous scrutiny.

Don't think so.
If one looks at the Australian requirements via CASA, commercial drones operations are under the direction and assessment of purpose employed commercial pilots.
Non-qualified pilots can control the systems, which are mostly autonomous anyhow, but only under the direction of the above.
If I'd had a shotgun the other day I would have at least had a go at blowing one of these amateur units out of the sky.
I imagine with the laws here, I'd be in more strife than the walleys flying these things illegally.
Casa has a set of purpose made aviation laws for amateur operation, freely available online and easy to follow.
This particular instance broke at least 3 of these.
At the time I did a quick video with my phone but it came out almost useless and the CASA reporting requirement is a clear video or photos.
Roll on jamming units.

[tamada]

And because some twunts thought it cool to do it, there will be a commensurate but OTT knee-jerk government reaction and the simple laws and restrictions that should have been in place years ago will be rewrote. These will impose restrictions that makes it harder for legitimate licensed drone operators and owners of companies that do aerial surveys and commercial photography to pass muster as everyone will be under ridiculous scrutiny.

Don't think so.
If one looks at the Australian requirements via CASA, commercial drones operations are under the direction and assessment of purpose employed commercial pilots.
Non-qualified pilots can control the systems, which are mostly autonomous anyhow, but only under the direction of the above.
If I'd had a shotgun the other day I would have at least had a go at blowing one of these amateur units out of the sky.
I imagine with the laws here, I'd be in more strife than the walleys flying these things illegally.
Casa has a set of purpose made aviation laws for amateur operation, freely available online and easy to follow.
This particular instance broke at least 3 of these.
At the time I did a quick video with my phone but it came out almost useless and the CASA reporting requirement is a clear video or photos.
Roll on jamming units.

Thanks for that. The CASA rules were probably drafted in consultation with the industry and operators so it is robust and fit for purpose. The UK rules are in place since a friend of mine recently attained government certification for his commercial drone business. However, as the Gatwick fustercluck has indicated, the rules maybe didn't allow for the possibility of serial twuntery at an international airport, ie. rules and laws in place but the enactment and law enforcement bit left to police, local authorities and private companies running airports. That last one isn't going to spend money on essential security equipment unless it is mandatory.

I have asked my friend for his viewpoint and how the recreational drone aspect is handled in the UK. His comments below.

"Commercial operators in the UK need a PfCO from the CAA. This requires mandated training from an authorised CAA approved training provider. This was not a hobbyist. It was a deliberate act. Maybe 99% of consumer drones ie DJI etc contain geofencing making it impossible to even start up in a no fly zone. But you can buy a spoofing kit. The Russians make them. Makes the gps appear 6km away in a green zone. The anti drone tech is fine until you have a drone that is operated over the cellular 3G network instead of radio. BVLOS (beyond visual line of site) systems work over cellular for obvious reasons. So unless you enclose the airport in netting, or have some kind of anti missile/intrusion cannons installed....the jury is out on this. If it turns out it was the f*cker from Crawley with RC helicopters (rumored), the drone industry needs an apology for the media using the word drone."

He adds,

"Basically every airport worldwide is now scrambling to prevent a Gatwick scenario. When DXB was shutdown for 68 minutes, it cost $1m per minute in losses. I still believe there is much more to this. We have not seen clear photos of the drone despite 50 sightings."

As for 'drone dome' and like technologies, he states,

"So many claims to what different systems can achieve. The technology changes daily rendering the latest anti-drone system redundant overnight."

[GT93]

I'm looking forward to hearing about the perps. Why did they do this?

No doubt the media are busy following all this up.

[tamada]

I'm looking forward to hearing about the perps. Why did they do this?

No doubt the media are busy following all this up.

Still going round in circles with the boss of the bloke accused saying he was at work when this was going down and friends of the bloke accused's wife (who's also accused) saying she doesn't like drones.

Edit: the above was the increasingly useless Telegraph. Meanwhile, the normally useless Guardian suggests the couple mentioned above have already been released without charge while the cops are now using both hands and a flashlight.

[bluejets]

I did hear the idea of mandatory id transponders be integrated in all drones purchased with the intention that any infringement could be immediately connected to a particular operator. It brings more questions than answers but would be a start at least.
If near miss bird strikes are not enough, now one has to deal somehow with the yobbos who irresponsibly operate these things. Saw a couple of weeks back they nabbed some idiot near Melbourne airport.

Looked like the same one here buzzing around again just on dark again tonight so will be having a chat with CASA tomorrow. Trouble is, can't do much without pics or video and sometimes they blow in and are gone before I can get the camera.

[yartims]

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/gatw ... 24626.html

so it was all chinese whispers and phantoms it seems
a load of hoohaa about nothing



An officer investigating the drone chaos at Gatwick Airport says there is no footage of the device which sparked it and it is "a possibility" there never was one.

Asked about speculation there was never such a drone flown over the airport, Detective Chief Superintendent Jason Tingley told the BBC: "Of course, that's a possibility. We are working with human beings saying they have seen something.

"Until we've got more clarity around what they've said, the detail - the time, place, direction of travel, all those types of things - and that's a big task."

[tamada]

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/gatw ... 24626.html

so it was all chinese whispers and phantoms it seems
a load of hoohaa about nothing



An officer investigating the drone chaos at Gatwick Airport says there is no footage of the device which sparked it and it is "a possibility" there never was one.

Asked about speculation there was never such a drone flown over the airport, Detective Chief Superintendent Jason Tingley told the BBC: "Of course, that's a possibility. We are working with human beings saying they have seen something.

"Until we've got more clarity around what they've said, the detail - the time, place, direction of travel, all those types of things - and that's a big task."

I can see a career change shortly for Detective Chief Superintendent Jason Tingley.

"We are working with human beings saying they have seen something." Pretty condescending IMHO. I mean like the Sussex cops are some alien law enforcement agency? So much more appropriate to have replaced 'human beings' with 'members of the public', no?

The pressure to catch someone after almost 2 days with zero evidence and only listening to gossip resulted in a wrongful arrest.

That's 2 strikes.

[Giggle]

Sounds like the Keystone cops. Well, we can all rest assured they were "armed."

[yartims]

now a 50k reward for info ..UK cops always over react as theyre so PC brainwashed nowadays

[bluejets]

This is a link to the CASA requirements in Aus.
One would have thought the UK to be similar but.........

https://www.casa.gov.au/webform/report- ... operations

then there is the app freely available so no one can say " I didn't know"......

https://www.casa.gov.au/aircraft/standa ... safety-app

[saint]

Just seen on the news, that a French company is now the major shareholder at Gatwick .
Interesting ! sort of goes against all the Brexit doom and gloom of the remoaners . Maybe they know more than the rest of us .

[Faraday]

Sounds like the Keystone cops. Well, we can all rest assured they were "armed."

They most probably were armed.

Still continuing with your Brit bashing; you do get rather boring.