Gatwick Airport: Drones ground flights

[DavidF]

Well they have managed to keep the flights grounded for more than 12 hours now in one of our busiest airports. The cynic in me is saying they are letting this run a while so they can push through much tougher regulations with regards to the use of drones by joe public. Thoughs go out to those poor sods stuck there. I don't think this is a lone teenager with his early xma present either. Seems co-ordinated and planned. Here is the story

Tens of thousands of passengers have been disrupted by drones flying over one of the UK's busiest airports.

Gatwick's runway has been shut since Wednesday night, as devices have been repeatedly flying over the airfield.

Sussex Police said it was not terror-related but a "deliberate act" of disruption, using "industrial specification" drones.

About 110,000 passengers on 760 flights were due to fly on Thursday. Disruption could last "several days".

The airport said the runway would not open "until it was safe to do so".

Those due to travel have been told to check the status of their flight, while Easyjet told its passengers not to go to Gatwick if their flights have been cancelled.

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[DJ Overdose]

I'm flying to Spain on boxing day, so any cunts getting drones for Christmas stay the fuck away from Gatwick!


DJ OD

[grrrd]

They are saying that the drones are 'industrial' and they did re-appear at lunch time. No idea what, whoever, is planning. Maybe its a protest of some sort.

[dpSparhawk]

I agree, something about it shouts a fully co-ordinated event. Multiple drones flying constantly through the night. There are NO drones with a battery that can fly that long so it's my thoughts that either they have a load of drones and are alternating their flights whilst swapping batteries out OR it is an actual planned event by authorities to discredit drones massively. The cynic in me wants to believe the latter but I do believe it's absolute dickheads deliberately causing disruption.

I don't know if it's politically motivated or if it's an "Eco-warrior" group or whether it really is just a bunch of knobhead joes of the same ilk that ride around at ridiculous speeds on unlicensed, uninsured scrambler bikes..

It's really fucking it up for those of us who fly legally.

The Air Navigation order has specific rules in place. No flights over 400ft. Keep at least 50m separation from people and buildings. Keep at least 150m separation from larger groups to crowds of people and built up areas. Don't fly within 1Km of an airfield. Don't over fly buildings or busy highways yet I often see actual drones and / or footage of all these rules being broken.


So far, all Airprox reports of Drones near planes and airfields have not yet been verified and there has never been any actual proof that what the pilot saw WAS a drone. Pilots are flying at hundreds of miles per hour, even coming into land they're over 100mph. Are they saying they can accurately ID a drone anything from 1cubic ft and smaller? Perhaps they can but then there are bags, helium balloons, birds and all sorts of other crap up there.


Now, thinking about this incident at Gatwick. All DJI drones have Geofencing coded in so you can't even take off too closely to an airport and certainly if you try to fly over it, the drone will literally stop and hover, and give you a warning.


So, these drones (and YET AGAIN, we have NOT seen any actual photographs or verified videos of any) are very likely to be custom built drones specifically for this purpose OR, they're geofenced and been hacked and/or had their gps transceivers altered in a way to disrupt or block the Geofencing. If this is the case, they would switch to ATTI mode so would require significant skill in handling as they would have no GPS hold and would drift in the slightest of breezes.


I personally agree that we need the planned registration to be implemented and probably sooner than later. There is talk of having to submit your flight plan every single time you fly (which comes with its own issues... another discussion on another day), however in the interim, as much as I hate it, we do need to bring in the registration but then ...how many uninsured, unlicensed drivers do we have on the roads? I really hope we don't see a blanket ban :/

[Mickey]

They should get a task force out there rounding these cnuts up and making them pay what's its cost in misery to all the good people trying to fly off to their families over the Christmas period. Fine them 200k or more in my books

[dpSparhawk]

The fine for flying over airports is unlimited and the prison penalties up to a 5 year sentence so I'm hoping that if they do ever catch them, they slap 'em with a HUGE fine and a 5 year sentence.


Something about all this doesn't sit right though. We have people who can whip out their phones and photograph anything from their shitty dinner to a person dying on the ground yet we have no credible photos or footage from the airport? Likewise, there will be a slew of TV crews and Photo-Journalists with their 800mm prime lenses just waiting to photograph a drone.... but where the fuck are the photos and TV quality footage?


....something in me is thinking "False Flag" event staged by the government to distract from the political bullshit going on. Either that or it's activists of some form. Yes it could be just some random cunt but.... I dunno. There's more to this than meets the eye and if it is a Red / false flag... it'll be covered up.

[DavidF]

Even more curious.....After 30 odd hours spanning 3 days they now re-open the runways and start flying again....No drones have been shot/downed nor no operators have been found. So how is is "safe" to fly today but not yesterday ? Red flag, white flag fookin green flag lol We will never find out. It does seem extreme even for my initial theory (Lets get tough on drones with new restrictive laws) I mean to convince the public to let them almost ban drones they would only need to have shut the airport for a few hours...then shoot one down and that would have been the end of it.
Wonder what David Icke makes of it ? Reptiles, Shapeshifters, Aliens or Elvis ? lol

[Rhinoz]

The couple that were arrested in relation to these drones over Gatwick have been released without charge even though their faces have been plastered all over the Internet by the media.

If they really are innocent their lives will no doubt have been truly turned upside down now.

[flumperino]

The couple that were arrested in relation to these drones over Gatwick have been released without charge even though their faces have been plastered all over the Internet by the media.

If they really are innocent their lives will no doubt have been truly turned upside down now.

Exactly what I was thinking yesterday. The Daily Mail had practically their entire social media photo collection plastered on their front page. The front page also noted that the guy's boss said the fella was working all day so it couldn't have been him - but that didn't stop them maybe having a little hesitation and not printing all the photos.

No doubt the couple have received abuse and death threats through social media.

[MrTeajunkie]

I would be seeking legal advice right now and suing the papers and the old bill.

[dpSparhawk]

....as I'm sure you can appreciate, I'm a member of a few Drone groups on social media. Groups set up for the purpose of sharing videos, photos, advice, etc. etc.


There's an increasing number of owners whom are now saying they're not going to fly for a few months now because they're concerned as to their safety. Perhaps a bit knee jerk and maybe OTT but I understand their concerns.

I for the most part previously have only ever been approached by people curious and interested with the exception of one guy on the Isle of Skye who decided to be particularly rude and abusive to me but very quickly stopped when I pointed out he was only 10 or so yards from the edge of a cliff at Niest Point...


....however, it has crossed my mind that would I be verbally attacked or worse if I go out flying at this point? It won't stop me (the bloody rain is doing that) because it was a similar situation when they decided to bring in the counter terrorism laws and hundreds of photographers with "Big cameras and lenses" were being stopped and questioned.


I really am now thinking this is a big bullshit set up and there were no drones because we still have NO fucking photos or video.

[flumperino]

OK, I'll give the mail a little bit of credit for now having 'drone couple cleared' on their front page.

Shouldn't have done what they did in the first place in my opinion, but at least they're given the couple's release the front page that it deserves.

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[BertRoot]

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Classic line from that article -

Neighbours had described how model aircraft enthusiast Mr Gait was regularly seen flying remote controlled cars

[Rhinoz]

Guess what now.........

Gatwick drone latest: Police say it is 'a possibility there was never a drone'

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[ilscuro]

Guess what now.........

Gatwick drone latest: Police say it is 'a possibility there was never a drone'

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I saw that on the news, but it said some of the eye witnesses were police officers.

[DJ Overdose]

Guess what now.........

Gatwick drone latest: Police say it is 'a possibility there was never a drone'

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No drone... That will make everyone delayed feel good!

Twats on all sides.


DJ OD

[dpSparhawk]

....the plot thickens (or at least there's some seriously thick cunts creating all this end of year BS lol)


Gatwick drones: Police called to drone sighting find it was a light on a CRANE

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Gatwick Drones
Birmingham ATC fault
So called "Spying" by suspected terrorists at Stuttgart Airport...

What next?

I dunno. Look if there truly was Drones at Gatwick (Still waiting for something credible) then I'll hold my hands up and say "fair do's"... find the cunts and throw the book at them but the situation is very bizarre.

[consoles]

All this bollocks about drones, remote planes and helicopters have been around decades and are generally much bigger than your average drone.
All this imho is so some new law can be pushed through to make all drone owners be registered which is not totally a bad thing but policing it will be another thing.

[Mickey]

If anyone is stupid enough to fly a drone close to an airfield, then they deserve to be flogged and fined.
Its only going to be a matter of time before some muppet brings down a plane

[DJ Overdose]

All this bollocks about drones, remote planes and helicopters have been around decades and are generally much bigger than your average drone.
All this imho is so some new law can be pushed through to make all drone owners be registered which is not totally a bad thing but policing it will be another thing.

Dunno about that. But model planes and helicopters are much more of a nerdy expensive hobby and they are no way as easy to fly. Every spoilt kid has a drone and like the toys of the 80’s being batteries not included, drones don’t come with brains.

I also have a feeling that model planes and the like need a license as well.

U will next stop a dixkhead with a drone. Authorities just need to work out how to stop them from being a threat.


DJ OD