Gatwick closed by drones
Discussion
Two drones flying over the airfield result in Gatwick being shut down.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-46623...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-46623...
Pretty bad, the busiest single runway airport in the world closed for 9 hours (so far) with a brief opening window from 0300 to 03:50.
Initially aircraft were diverting to stansted but later on aircraft were going to Cardiff and even Liverpool and Paris as airports filled up or couldn’t accept them.
What can they do though if someone is flying drone(s) over the airport. It must be very difficult to find out who’s doing it.
This video from NATS shows the disruption a brief drone incident caused last year. Imagine it going on for 9 hours.
https://youtu.be/SdfVIdsufI8
Initially aircraft were diverting to stansted but later on aircraft were going to Cardiff and even Liverpool and Paris as airports filled up or couldn’t accept them.
What can they do though if someone is flying drone(s) over the airport. It must be very difficult to find out who’s doing it.
This video from NATS shows the disruption a brief drone incident caused last year. Imagine it going on for 9 hours.
https://youtu.be/SdfVIdsufI8
Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 20th December 06:17
So drones were spotted at 9pm and then again within 45 minutes of the runway reopening at 3am. That's surely well beyond some idiot hobby flying their drone? If correct that sounds like somebody intending to cause massive disruption (or worse).
schmalex said:
I’m surprised LGW doesn’t have a C-UAS capability.
Wondered how long it would be before somebody posted an un-Googleable acronym in another aviation thread, bingo!Edited by ukaskew on Thursday 20th December 06:18
ukaskew said:
schmalex said:
I’m surprised LGW doesn’t have a C-UAS capability.
Wondered how long it would be before somebody posted an un-Googleable acronym in another aviation thread, bingo!Edited by ukaskew on Thursday 20th December 06:18
Time to ban the sale of the things without a license.
I would also issue a massive fine if caught using illegally/flying in restricted airspace/etc - £500,000 or thereabouts. Really wipe the moron out. Given our destroyer ships can track something as small as a tennis ball at 100miles, I am sure it it not beyond the realms of possibility to track/destroy drones. There should also be some sort of identifier system on each drone so you can ping it and get the owners details. No details, shoot it down. I wouldn't want to risk one with a bit of explosive attached landing on the wing of a parked plane and detonating.
I'd be surprised if there were genuinely one or more people managing to fly drones around at night around there for that many hours to get the later sighting.
Quite apart from battery life the airport isn't really very close to anything apart from fields, a few houses and some industrial bits (at least if you look within a kilometer or so) so anyone flying the things would (you'd think) be obvious to the helicopter they were flying around.
So I wonder how much is a real sighting and how much is someone getting a bit overexcited and then because of the difficultly of proving the things are 'gone' the incident continues.
Quite apart from battery life the airport isn't really very close to anything apart from fields, a few houses and some industrial bits (at least if you look within a kilometer or so) so anyone flying the things would (you'd think) be obvious to the helicopter they were flying around.
So I wonder how much is a real sighting and how much is someone getting a bit overexcited and then because of the difficultly of proving the things are 'gone' the incident continues.
I remain sceptical that someone was flying a drone at 9pm over Gatwick - most drone software these days won't let you physically fly in restricted space and even the bigger drones are hard to spot in the day, let alone at night with all the other lights around an airport.
Why would someone want to fly at night in any event?
Even if it is true, fining and banning people won't stop the idiots flying them.
Why would someone want to fly at night in any event?
Even if it is true, fining and banning people won't stop the idiots flying them.
Jonesy23 said:
I'd be surprised if there were genuinely one or more people managing to fly drones around at night around there for that many hours to get the later sighting.
Quite apart from battery life the airport isn't really very close to anything apart from fields, a few houses and some industrial bits (at least if you look within a kilometer or so) so anyone flying the things would (you'd think) be obvious to the helicopter they were flying around.
So I wonder how much is a real sighting and how much is someone getting a bit overexcited and then because of the difficultly of proving the things are 'gone' the incident continues.
There’s thousands of houses and places you could hide within drone range of Gatwick airport. If you have a couple of operators and batteries, you can easily keep drones airborne for hours. Quite apart from battery life the airport isn't really very close to anything apart from fields, a few houses and some industrial bits (at least if you look within a kilometer or so) so anyone flying the things would (you'd think) be obvious to the helicopter they were flying around.
So I wonder how much is a real sighting and how much is someone getting a bit overexcited and then because of the difficultly of proving the things are 'gone' the incident continues.
At least 2 drones flying were around at night, difficult to see and track but keep getting reported by aircraft taxiing around and other observers throughout the night.
How long do you wait after seeing one before letting aircraft take off and land?
Camelot1971 said:
I remain sceptical that someone was flying a drone at 9pm over Gatwick - most drone software these days won't let you physically fly in restricted space and even the bigger drones are hard to spot in the day, let alone at night with all the other lights around an airport.
Why would someone want to fly at night in any event?
Even if it is true, fining and banning people won't stop the idiots flying them.
So if it's not drones (it is) what is it then? As for geofencing airports, anyone with access to google and 30 minutes can bypass that.Why would someone want to fly at night in any event?
Even if it is true, fining and banning people won't stop the idiots flying them.
Drones need licensing, end of. And if these morons get caught, the entire cost of these delays should fall on them.
Camelot1971 said:
I remain sceptical that someone was flying a drone at 9pm over Gatwick - most drone software these days won't let you physically fly in restricted space and even the bigger drones are hard to spot in the day, let alone at night with all the other lights around an airport.
Why would someone want to fly at night in any event?
Even if it is true, fining and banning people won't stop the idiots flying them.
There were reports from pilots taxiing around seeing them over the apron and runway plus passengers filmed them and the airport operations vehicles were driving around observing them all night. Why would someone want to fly at night in any event?
Even if it is true, fining and banning people won't stop the idiots flying them.
These may not be being flown in the traditional sense. Even the DJI drones can be operated autonomously with some cheap software you can basically draw a route on a map, set altitudes, way points and so on and then send it on its way.
I guess it would be fairly easy to have a stash of batteries and a couple of drones and just keep sending them out, change the battery when it returns and then off again for another sortie.
These may well be drones which don't have any form of geo-fencing so will happily fly anywhere, unlike the more readily available DJI or similar drones which will typically just slowly land if you try and send it into a protected area.
I do have to say though that the wind and weather conditions overnight do make me think that these are not run-of-the-mill drones as battery endurance is severely hammered in the cold and gusty conditions overnight so that 20 minute flight time may go down to 10 or less. I've flown mine in gusting winds up to around 38Mph under controlled and safe conditions and while it flew, endurance wasn't great and it was a bit scary.
I gave up on my drones earlier on this year due to the number of tards doing stupid things with them but when I did have them I was insured and sensible, unlike a lot of users these days.
I guess it would be fairly easy to have a stash of batteries and a couple of drones and just keep sending them out, change the battery when it returns and then off again for another sortie.
These may well be drones which don't have any form of geo-fencing so will happily fly anywhere, unlike the more readily available DJI or similar drones which will typically just slowly land if you try and send it into a protected area.
I do have to say though that the wind and weather conditions overnight do make me think that these are not run-of-the-mill drones as battery endurance is severely hammered in the cold and gusty conditions overnight so that 20 minute flight time may go down to 10 or less. I've flown mine in gusting winds up to around 38Mph under controlled and safe conditions and while it flew, endurance wasn't great and it was a bit scary.
I gave up on my drones earlier on this year due to the number of tards doing stupid things with them but when I did have them I was insured and sensible, unlike a lot of users these days.
Camelot1971 said:
I remain sceptical that someone was flying a drone at 9pm over Gatwick - most drone software these days won't let you physically fly in restricted space and even the bigger drones are hard to spot in the day, let alone at night with all the other lights around an airport.
Why would someone want to fly at night in any event?
Even if it is true, fining and banning people won't stop the idiots flying them.
Santa on a practice run? Why would someone want to fly at night in any event?
Even if it is true, fining and banning people won't stop the idiots flying them.
Bizarre. Even the top-end drones only fly for 20-25 minutes.
It would take a lot of organisation for a group of people to be ferrying drones in and out of the airport for constant battery changes & recharges all night long. Surprising that they couldn't be traced/followed. The police have drones, could they not follow them to locate the "base"?
I wonder whether some sort of climate anorak group were behind it.
It would take a lot of organisation for a group of people to be ferrying drones in and out of the airport for constant battery changes & recharges all night long. Surprising that they couldn't be traced/followed. The police have drones, could they not follow them to locate the "base"?
I wonder whether some sort of climate anorak group were behind it.
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