Drones close airport.

[Chippy_Tea]

I remember when drones first hit the shelves and they were basically toys but at the expensive end you have 2kg of metal and battery flying hundreds of feet in the air and the potential to down aircraft, i have no doubt the government will now bring in licencing etc but it's going to be too little too late.




Passengers at one of the UK's busiest airports have been warned to expect further flight disruption after drones were seen over the airfield.

Gatwick's runway remains closed after two of the devices were seen nearby, sparking a string of delays and diversions on Wednesday evening.

Outbound flights were grounded and incoming planes redirected - with some landing in Paris and Amsterdam.

Passengers due to travel have been told to check the status of their flight.

The shutdown started just after 21:00 BST, when two drones were spotted being flown over the airfield.

"Multiple reports" of further sightings followed, a Gatwick spokesman said, and all flights to and from the airport were suspended.

The runway was briefly re-opened at about 03:01 GMT, the airport said, but forced to close again about 45 minutes later amid "a further sighting of drones".

BBC news.

The law says:

• It is illegal to fly a drone within 1km of an airport or airfield boundary
• Flying above 400ft (120m) - which increases the risk of a collision with a manned aircraft - is also illegal
• Endangering the safety of an aircraft is a criminal offence which can carry a prison sentence of five years

Source: dronesafe.uk

 

[Clint]

Where's those blokes with the gun that fires the net? Or anyone with a gun? Or anyone...?
I bet they could train a great big eagle to grab those drones..or seeing as it's already cost a fortune scramble one of those new Lightning fighters and blast it out the sky..

 

[Frogbrew]

Why can't police just shoot em down, trained police marks men would jump at the chance I reckon. We're too soft in this country, letting a load of tree huggers or similar disrupt our daily life in this way.

 

[dad_of_jon]

terrorists will already have taken ideas from this. i'd not be the first to think what might happen if they can fly this into a plane.

 

[jceg316]

In film production there are trained birds of prey to take down drones, but won't work at an airport as birds and planes don't mix well. Similarly trained marksmen firing bullets at planes or areas with civilians isn't a great mix either. Regular security patrols (if there aren't already) might work better.

 

[pvt_ak]

Send up a drone fitted with some sort of sub machine gun and taken them down !

Drone wars

 

[Chippy_Tea]

They said they cannot shoot them down as they couldn't guarantee where it would land and a 2kg lump of metal coming down from a few hundred metres could do some serious damage or kill.

 

[Gunge]

They said they cannot shoot them down as they couldn't guarantee where it would land and a 2kg lump of metal coming down from a few hundred metres could do some serious damage or kill.

Howsabout blowing them up with a laser like summat off Star Wars? If they gave me the job they'd think Chewbacca was the pilot of the intercepting aircraft. Sounds right up my street but not as good as knocking off and then running over several times those nobheads on scooters.

 

[Ajhutch]

How about some kind of plane with a big net on it to catch the drone? I’m sure Thunderbird 2 would have a piece of equipment to deal with this situation.

 

[Ajhutch]

Just found out that a friend of mine has had her flight home for Christmas cancelled. 2 minutes alone in a room with her and the person flying this drone will be begging for a life sentence at Alcatraz

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I was unaware people who miss flights go to the back of a very long queue, I assumed they put them on another plane at a later time, just shows how little I know about the subject and to be honest I am happy not to know my interest in queuing at an aitiport hours before the flight is due ended many many years ago.

 

[Alside101]

Send out another drone in a pretty dress to lure the other drones away

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Whoever is doing this knows they cannot or are very unlikely to be caught as these drones can be pre-programmed with a flight path so can be flown from anywhere in London to the airport.


The Army has deployed "specialist equipment" to Gatwick Airport as the travel chaos caused by drone activity shows no sign of abating.

It comes as Easyjet has cancelled all of its flights from Gatwick for the rest of the day.

The airline, the biggest operator at the airport, said there was "no indication" when Gatwick would reopen.

Tens of thousands of passengers on several airlines have been disrupted by drones flying over the airport.

In a tweet, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson had confirmed the military deployment.

He said: "The armed forces have a range of unique capabilities and this isn't something we would usually deploy but we are there to assist and do everything we can so that they are in a position to open the airport at the earliest opportunity."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-46640033

 

[Ajhutch]

This is getting very serious. We don’t seem capable of dealing with this sort of thing.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

If this isn't terror related (as they have said) they have just given them an easy way to close airports and cause huge disruption at any time they want to cause it.

100,000 passengers disrupted today.

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[stevey]

Some kid should get a good hiding for it. Schools packed up yesterday and this happens last night.
Trouble is anyone can buy one made in china for about £25. They say it's not terror related, but if they're scared to let planes take off for a whole day; surely it's the same thing?

 

[Ajhutch]

That’s why it’s so serious. This is no kid prankster, the airports have the technology to scramble the cheap drones so they can’t fly within dangerous range. So this is organised and someone with some serious technology.

 

[MyQul]

Howsabout blowing them up with a laser like summat off Star Wars? If they gave me the job they'd think Chewbacca was the pilot of the intercepting aircraft. Sounds right up my street but not as good as knocking off and then running over several times those nobheads on scooters.

In 1972, a crack northerner (or maybe just a northerner on crack) was sent to prison by a military court for a crime he didn't commit. This man promptly escaped from a maximum-security stockade to the Barnsley underground. Today, still wanted by the government, he survive as a soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem... if no one else can help... and if you can find him... maybe you can hire... GUNGE!!!!

 

[Chippy_Tea]

So this is organised and someone with some serious technology.

These are obviously not kids drones but from what i have heard today (listening to the radio) they are also not at the extreme and of the price range either, they can be programmed to fly to a destination form many miles away so the chances of the owners getting caught are slim, the biggest worry (according to a drone expert on 5 live) is any built in safety features designed to stop them flying where they shouldn't are fairly easy to disable if you know what you are doing.

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[MyQul]

Beer name: Drones Revenge