Gatwick closed by drones
Discussion
HoHoHo said:
chrisga said:
jdw100 said:
Fundamentally could I sit at home here with my feet up a good few thousands of miles away and play havoc with Gatwick until someone shoots me (well, my drone) down?
Probably. At least until the battery ran out.With something like a DJi drone, you can't operate them other than within about a 2 or 3 mile radius.
The Mavic Air for example (which I have and is so small at about 10" across so you probably wouldn't even see it over an airfield) has a usable operating distance of about 1 mile in total clear unobstructed visibility. Start adding buildings and trees and you won't get too far at all.
If (and for me it's a big if) there is a drone and it's big enough to see from some distance away from a camera then you are talking about many thousands of pounds worth of equipment and out of the reach of an amateur drone pilot. That could possibly be flown totally remotely, I know nothing about those.
Interestingly in the UK DJi have now reduced the usable radio distance on their amateur drones to about a mile or so and as I mentioned above that's with total clear line of sight. In the US the same drones have a usable distance of many miles, up to 5 or more given the right conditions. I'm told you can fiddle with the UK drone to try and confuse it to think it's on the states and thus have a greater operating distance but I haven't tried that myself.
Okay, so probably not a new hobby for me then.
Could have sat by my pool here and disrupted flights across the UK. Which airport today....?
(only joking - total sympathy for travellers, had a four hour delay last year but at least that was in a nice airport not a European one)
A bit late to the party, but here's a couple of photos I took at Gatwick on the 20th...
Looking out the window at the departure gate, no movement at all, not even luggage carts running about. Weird.
On board the plane (where we sat for three hours not going anywhere), and again, everything totally still.
Looking out the window at the departure gate, no movement at all, not even luggage carts running about. Weird.
On board the plane (where we sat for three hours not going anywhere), and again, everything totally still.
Dr Interceptor said:
A bit late to the party, but here's a couple of photos I took at Gatwick on the 20th...
Looking out the window at the departure gate, no movement at all, not even luggage carts running about. Weird.
On board the plane (where we sat for three hours not going anywhere), and again, everything totally still.
Didnt someone say there was a strike that day?Looking out the window at the departure gate, no movement at all, not even luggage carts running about. Weird.
On board the plane (where we sat for three hours not going anywhere), and again, everything totally still.
Latest update from LGW, seems strange that it's only in the local papers;
https://www.crawleyobserver.co.uk/news/crime/gatwi...
Summary is that 25 site/homes have been searched since the incident and that police had over 800 extra shifts to cover during the disruption.
https://www.crawleyobserver.co.uk/news/crime/gatwi...
Summary is that 25 site/homes have been searched since the incident and that police had over 800 extra shifts to cover during the disruption.
steve_k said:
This drone incident has proven it is very easy to cause a lot of problems to an airport with very little risk and outlay. I would imagine some less desirable groups/terrorists will be planning more attacks now the method has been proven.
Is the only reason no ones flown a drone into a plane engine the fact that their either too stupid to think of it or they havent got the balls? Would the drone on its own do enough damage or would it need to carry something? I cant thing it would be hard if you was guided by a go pro and surely the suction from the engine would do the rest of the work?
Whatsmyname said:
Is the only reason no ones flown a drone into a plane engine the fact that their either too stupid to think of it or they havent got the balls?
Would the drone on its own do enough damage or would it need to carry something? I cant thing it would be hard if you was guided by a go pro and surely the suction from the engine would do the rest of the work?
It's only a matter of time, less risk of getting caught than running over a few pedestrians in a car or van. How to stop it happening is the difficult one to solve.Would the drone on its own do enough damage or would it need to carry something? I cant thing it would be hard if you was guided by a go pro and surely the suction from the engine would do the rest of the work?
Whatsmyname said:
steve_k said:
This drone incident has proven it is very easy to cause a lot of problems to an airport with very little risk and outlay. I would imagine some less desirable groups/terrorists will be planning more attacks now the method has been proven.
Is the only reason no ones flown a drone into a plane engine the fact that their either too stupid to think of it or they havent got the balls? Would the drone on its own do enough damage or would it need to carry something? I cant thing it would be hard if you was guided by a go pro and surely the suction from the engine would do the rest of the work?
They’d happily fly a drone into an aircraft if they could. They seem to focus on high profile death and destruction though rather than causing disruption and delays.
El stovey said:
Terrorists have fired rockets at aircraft a few times in Kenya and more recently Turkey and Egypt.
They’d happily fly a drone into an aircraft if they could. They seem to focus on high profile death and destruction though rather than causing disruption and delays.
Id have thought downing an aircraft would achieve all objectives. They’d happily fly a drone into an aircraft if they could. They seem to focus on high profile death and destruction though rather than causing disruption and delays.
El stovey said:
Terrorists have fired rockets at aircraft a few times in Kenya and more recently Turkey and Egypt.
They’d happily fly a drone into an aircraft if they could. They seem to focus on high profile death and destruction though rather than causing disruption and delays.
Getting hold rockets to fire at planes I would imagine quite difficult in Europe and I would imagine very expensive, then you have the issue of training to use them they tend not to be reusable so practice would be quite difficult.They’d happily fly a drone into an aircraft if they could. They seem to focus on high profile death and destruction though rather than causing disruption and delays.
Now drones on the other hand are getting cheaper to buy easier to fly and use and some of the larger models can carry quite a payload its only a matter of time.
rfsteel said:
Latest update from LGW, seems strange that it's only in the local papers;
https://www.crawleyobserver.co.uk/news/crime/gatwi...
Summary is that 25 site/homes have been searched since the incident and that police had over 800 extra shifts to cover during the disruption.
And yet ???https://www.crawleyobserver.co.uk/news/crime/gatwi...
Summary is that 25 site/homes have been searched since the incident and that police had over 800 extra shifts to cover during the disruption.
Whatsmyname said:
Is the only reason no ones flown a drone into a plane engine the fact that their either too stupid to think of it or they havent got the balls?
Would the drone on its own do enough damage or would it need to carry something? I cant thing it would be hard if you was guided by a go pro and surely the suction from the engine would do the rest of the work?
I think a small drone would possibly just disintegrate but a larger drone would cause issues.Would the drone on its own do enough damage or would it need to carry something? I cant thing it would be hard if you was guided by a go pro and surely the suction from the engine would do the rest of the work?
Whatsmyname said:
A DJI matrice 600 can carry a pay load of 6kg and has a 5km range surely thats gonna cause some s
t even if it was just carrying a shed load of lithium batteries.
Yeah you’re right, although I wouldn’t class the 600 as a small drone.t even if it was just carrying a shed load of lithium batteries.By small I meant something even smaller than a DJI Spark.
roadsmash said:
Whatsmyname said:
Is the only reason no ones flown a drone into a plane engine the fact that their either too stupid to think of it or they havent got the balls?
Would the drone on its own do enough damage or would it need to carry something? I cant thing it would be hard if you was guided by a go pro and surely the suction from the engine would do the rest of the work?
I think a small drone would possibly just disintegrate but a larger drone would cause issues.Would the drone on its own do enough damage or would it need to carry something? I cant thing it would be hard if you was guided by a go pro and surely the suction from the engine would do the rest of the work?
Also Just think about the Concorde crash. That was a metal strip lying on the runway from a previous flight that flicked up and pierced the fuel tank, that then grounded the whole fleet and we now no longer have supersonic flight.
Bird strikes can blow up engines and they are generally soft tissue, however the speed factor comes in to make it deadly.
Thankyou4calling said:
And yet ???
Exactly, I went for a wonder around the South Terminal Long Stay car parks last weekend, which has a public footpath running through it, and was surprised to see no additional security or even CCTV installed yet. Very easy to walk under the flight path and then either disappear into the terminal, hire car, long stay car parks or even back out to a local residents.
Seems LGW have built some new multi story parking under the flight path, which must make hiding from a helicopter rather easy ?
Jesus. Wish I didn’t say anything now.
Proof you can argue about anything on PH.
A metallic object hitting an aircraft would cause deadly issues...
...Bird strikes can blow up engines and they are generally soft tissue, however the speed factor comes in to make it deadly.Metallic yes, but a lot of small drones are mostly plastic with a tiny metal motor. One of these getting sucked into a large jet engine would likely disintegrate.
Anything larger I agree would be catastrophic.
Someone meaning to do harm would likely use a large one anyway, so it’s trivial.
Planes hit small birds on a daily basis and most continue on to their destination safely.
Again it really depends on the size and weight of the object.
Proof you can argue about anything on PH.
fatboy18 said:
roadsmash said:
Whatsmyname said:
Is the only reason no ones flown a drone into a plane engine the fact that their either too stupid to think of it or they havent got the balls?
Would the drone on its own do enough damage or would it need to carry something? I cant thing it would be hard if you was guided by a go pro and surely the suction from the engine would do the rest of the work?
I think a small drone would possibly just disintegrate but a larger drone would cause issues.Would the drone on its own do enough damage or would it need to carry something? I cant thing it would be hard if you was guided by a go pro and surely the suction from the engine would do the rest of the work?
...Bird strikes can blow up engines and they are generally soft tissue, however the speed factor comes in to make it deadly.
Anything larger I agree would be catastrophic.
Someone meaning to do harm would likely use a large one anyway, so it’s trivial.
Planes hit small birds on a daily basis and most continue on to their destination safely.
Again it really depends on the size and weight of the object.
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