Gatwick closed by drones

[HoHoHo]

Greendubber said:

HoHoHo said:

wc98 said:

hyphen said:

Sussex Police launched their own drone to help find the drone/person responsible. So of course they got more drone sighting which were about their own drone


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/12/29/gatwic...

Have a few more....



You couldn’t make it up

‘Sarg, there’s that pesky drone again’

‘Go and follow it Dibble in your nice new X5, bet the culprits are a right bunch of tossers........’

I suspect they knew their own drone was up and it was more likely to me members of the public ringing in.

Based on how they’re handling the situation I bet they didn’t know!

[anonymous-user]

You'd need to see reports / sightings vs deployments do help draw any conclusions if you wanted to be serious about assessing the indirect impact of that tactic.

[Penelope Stopit]

hyphen said:

Sussex Police launched their own drone to help find the drone/person responsible. So of course they got more drone sighting which were about their own drone


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/12/29/gatwic...

Thank you for the link. I was already highly amused about this drone saga, I have now suffered a gelastic seizure

[Cold]

York says he feels sorry for the couple wrongly arrested: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-46709...



Note further down the page it's revealed that the two crashed drones recovered from nearby have been ruled out. It seems they really are nowhere nearer to concluding this.
Keystone-esq so far.

[The Hypno-Toad]

The more I hear about this now, the more it seems to me that it was almost some form of mass hysteria. But it is interesting that the police have finally decided to apologise to the couple who were arrested. I wonder if they had to wait a few days to do that because they were investigating if any kind of offence had actually occurred and because it maybe dawning on them that it hasn't they have decided to admit they were being a bit OTT in the way the couple were treated.

Two things I think you can safely say after all of this. Firstly, that couple need to move house because someone round were they live clearly hates their guts. Secondly, I would like to see any other UK airport say there's a drone about and we need to close the airport without having a lot of evidence because it would mean some seriously angry people in those terminals.

[hyphen]

The Hypno-Toad said:

But it is interesting that the police have finally decided to apologise to the couple who were arrested.

They haven't. Showed empathy for what the coupe experienced but it was the correct thing to do. ie. would do the same again.

[Spoon Burner]

Coolbanana said:

38911 said:

And I’m gonna have to say I couldn’t give a st whether or not it’s good enough for you. The pilot told me it was at 400 feet. That’s good enough for me.

Believe me or don’t believe me - I literally couldn’t care less. I’m not going to waste any more time on this dialogue.

Overly defensive much?

No worries, mate, you have a yourself a good day and stop telling porkies

[Biker 1]

This saga is getting more ridiculous by the hour - you couldn't make it up!
I suggested previously that our surveillance/security forces may be a little bit crap - it seems this is looking more & more likely. God help us if something really dangerous happens!!

[bitchstewie]

The Hypno-Toad said:

The more I hear about this now, the more it seems to me that it was almost some form of mass hysteria. But it is interesting that the police have finally decided to apologise to the couple who were arrested. I wonder if they had to wait a few days to do that because they were investigating if any kind of offence had actually occurred and because it maybe dawning on them that it hasn't they have decided to admit they were being a bit OTT in the way the couple were treated.

Two things I think you can safely say after all of this. Firstly, that couple need to move house because someone round were they live clearly hates their guts. Secondly, I would like to see any other UK airport say there's a drone about and we need to close the airport without having a lot of evidence because it would mean some seriously angry people in those terminals.

I think most people would be angrier if they ended up scattered across the airport periphery because their plane ingested a drone on take off.

To all the people demanding "evidence" would you be happy if someone called your employer with a bomb threat and they did nothing because there was no evidence?

Lots of things happen where after the fact there is no evidence of a threat - that doesn't mean the authorities didn't act correctly, if less than perfectly, at the time.

[Coolbanana]

Biker 1 said:

This saga is getting more ridiculous by the hour - you couldn't make it up!
I suggested previously that our surveillance/security forces may be a little bit crap - it seems this is looking more & more likely. God help us if something really dangerous happens!!

You aren't wrong, the Gatwick Saga does seem to have confirmed much was - perhaps still is - missing with anti-drone preparedness in the UK. Hopefully airports management across the UK and Police Forces too have learned valuable lessons from this and will ensure systems are now in place - or being put in place quickly without the need for military assistance - to ensure a repeat isn't likely. It is sad it took a major disruption to make this fact aware but at least it has finally done so.

Ben Gurion has the Rafael system complete with laser tech deployed from what I have read and this same system used by the UK Military allowed the Gatwick boss to resume flights by giving him the comfort he needed that no threat existed and that should a drone re-enter the airspace, it would be identified quickly. Airports need something like this permanently on site to avoid false alarms and also be able to deal with real threats.

[graylag]

Biker 1 said:

graylag said:

Struggling to understand your logic here. You think it was closed for no reason, but you think it was OK to close the airport, but then closing it was a massive overreaction

Have Manchester, Heathrow, Leeds / Bradford, Liverpool, Stanstead, Glasgow, Edinburgh airports been closed by drones? If not, does that add to your conspiracy theory about one Israeli airport?

Conspiracy theory?? They've never had drones, real or otherwise, close Ben Gurion airport, presumably as they thought about this sort of thing & developed & installed a system to mitigate the threat. It seems Gatwick & others didn't bother, even though they were apparently warned, & that systems are commercially available. I'm absolutely sure there was the usual arse-covering that is so prevalent in the UK today, in terms of keeping the airport closed for so long. Either that or our security & surveillance capabilities really are crap.

You’ve misunderstood. You’ve said that Ben Gurion airport has never been closed by a drone, as if that means something. I don’t think Manchester, Liverpool, Heathrow, East Midlands, Leeds / Bradford, Glasgow et al have been closed by a drone either so are they in the same league as Ben Gurion? If not, what was your point?

[768]

And now the police have used the sorry word with respect to the arrested couple.

[PositronicRay]

bhstewie said:

The Hypno-Toad said:

The more I hear about this now, the more it seems to me that it was almost some form of mass hysteria. But it is interesting that the police have finally decided to apologise to the couple who were arrested. I wonder if they had to wait a few days to do that because they were investigating if any kind of offence had actually occurred and because it maybe dawning on them that it hasn't they have decided to admit they were being a bit OTT in the way the couple were treated.

Two things I think you can safely say after all of this. Firstly, that couple need to move house because someone round were they live clearly hates their guts. Secondly, I would like to see any other UK airport say there's a drone about and we need to close the airport without having a lot of evidence because it would mean some seriously angry people in those terminals.

During th
I think most people would be angrier if they ended up scattered across the airport periphery because their plane ingested a drone on take off.

To all the people demanding "evidence" would you be happy if someone called your employer with a bomb threat and they did nothing because there was no evidence?

Lots of things happen where after the fact there is no evidence of a threat - that doesn't mean the authorities didn't act correctly, if less than perfectly, at the time.

During the 80s we used to get a few bomb threats at work, the procedure was to be aware while carry on as normal.

[bitchstewie]

PositronicRay said:

During the 80s we used to get a few bomb threats at work, the procedure was to be aware while carry on as normal.

What line of work were you in?

[PositronicRay]

bhstewie said:

PositronicRay said:

During the 80s we used to get a few bomb threats at work, the procedure was to be aware while carry on as normal.

What line of work were you in?

Supermarket

[bitchstewie]

PositronicRay said:

Supermarket

I'm actually shocked at that. IRA back in those days presumably?

Bit of a cliche but times change I guess, it's 2018 and not that you expect it working in a supermarket, but I just don't think you'd get away with taking that chance these days.

[swisstoni]

PositronicRay said:

During the 80s we used to get a few bomb threats at work, the procedure was to be aware while carry on as normal.

Some consolation to know why you have suddenly been blown to pieces I suppose.

[graylag]

bhstewie said:

PositronicRay said:

Supermarket

I'm actually shocked at that. IRA back in those days presumably?

Bit of a cliche but times change I guess, it's 2018 and not that you expect it working in a supermarket, but I just don't think you'd get away with taking that chance these days.

Different world with different types of threat. The IRA had agreed code words that were used to verify the threat when phoned into the police. If a code word was used then it was immediate evacuation. I’m not sure why or when they used them though, as their aim seemed to me to be as much death and destruction as possible and I have no time for terrorists.

[Coolbanana]

PositronicRay said:

Supermarket

How do you feel, knowing you are expendable?

Most people aren't expendable though, and certainly at an airport only someone inept at their duties and responsibilities would take risks with Passengers and airport visitors.

All those who think Gatwick over-reacted would likely be the first to get their legal Claims in if anything unfortunate happened to them as a result of their safety being compromised by Airport Security. Easy to be brave Internet Commentators when they aren't victims or have not suffered any harm. Different story altogether when they can Claim or something bad does happen though, innit?

[jakesmith]

jakesmith said:

Mojooo said:

What was the basis for arrest? You must know it in order to make that comment.

you will know it very shortly and I promise you’ll find it ludicrously spurious!!

BBC:

Gatwick drones: Sussex Police 'sorry' for arrested couple

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-467093...

Tip of the iceberg!