Drones spotted at Gatwick...

[Tom Wilson]

I'm waiting for a "highly intelligent individual" to pull out the Trump card and suggest they 'put a wall up' to stop anyone entering the airspace.

[Bibs]

Quote

The re-opening of the runway came after the last sighting of the drone at 10pm last night, which had buzzed over the airport more than 50 times since 9pm on Wednesday night.

50 times?! They didn't follow it to its landing point once?

[Sparky]

What's that smell..?

[Kimbers]

Sorry thats me. Drank too much last night and not had a shower.

[Dan.G]

I agree with Sparky,

There is more to this one... let's not shoot it down, ask an eagle to kill it, not get a bigger drone to wrap it in a net... and let's just disrupt the world.

To me, this shouts lies, maybe terrorism or even the Ruskies having a laugh.

My understanding is that most domestic drones cannot stay in the air due to battery limitations as much as these have. Which would suggest professionals?

Is there anything this government can get right??

[Bibs]

Even professional drones won't last more than 30 mins. 

[100th_Idiot]

The reports say more than one drone so they could be operates in shifts. They were also on site then leaving. Presumably to recharge. Not sure why they didn't put up a drone of their own to try to follow it back to base.

[Bibs]

That's exactly what I offered the Airside Ops Manager yesterday morning, for free too! Made sense to me! 

[Chillidoggy]

And I read that a solicitor specialising in flight delays has said there's no basis for compo as it was an extraordinary circumstance.

Double whammy for the poor people who've had their plans ruined.

[Colin P]

2 hours ago, Dan.G said:

 

Is there anything this government can get right??

Well they’ve kept Corbin out, so yes.

[100th_Idiot]

I think you will find that is Corbin's achievement.

[Bibs]

Gatwick is closed again. So much for the military grade drone defences

I hope they catch these gits soon, and increase maximum sentencing for breaching the Air Navigation Order.

[tim_marra]

You're not sitting on your remote by any chance?

[Bibs]

I'm a licenced commercial operator, it would be very easy to track me, my phone number is on the side of the drone and I'm sure they've got binoculars! 

[pete]

it's shut again

[Tom Wilson]

Bibs?? Just don't catch any of your neighbours washing on the way there

 

Edited December 21, 2018 by Tom Wilson

[C8RKH]

7 hours ago, Dan.G said:

Is there anything this government can get right??

Bloody hell, why is this the governments fault for christ's sake?  Really?

[100th_Idiot]

12 minutes ago, C8RKH said:

Bloody hell, why is this the governments fault for christ's sake?  Really?

Quite right. It's obviously the EUs fault

[andyj007]

because only in this country do we pussy foot and dick around on all agendas that self serve the current political party or politician, but when something as obvious as drone flying over an airfield  or town or market or concert were pathetic at doing anything about...does our govnt and army honestly not think that a terrorist with at least half a brain cell  would not use a drone for a attack of some sorts, and yet nothing has been in place to deal with this..  come on seriously?

unbelievable.. incompetence ... if nothing in pace..

i was expecting this to be shut down stright away not still happening two days later..

 

 

 

[Bibs]

And open again! 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/gatwick-airport-delays-live-updates-flight-information-drones-latest-police-compensation-runway-a8693876.html

To be fair, the govt can take some blame as can the Police. As far as I'm aware there have been 3 prosecutions under the ANO against hobby drone fliers. The dude who flew into a nuclear power station, a guy who repeated flew over Wembley during matches and more recently a guy in Peterborough who endangered a Police helicopter (which incidentally was more than capable of following the drone to his house). When they catch these people, that'll be number 4 and there are over 1,000,000 drones in the UK and about 4,500 CAA PfCO Pilots.

People upload illegal drone videos every day to fb and youtube - overflying residential areas, range tests (the law is 500m from the op and line of sight) yet nothing has been done. It's as illegal as posting a video of someone driving at 150mph. Both are risky, more often than not no-one is harmed but at the end of the day the law is the law. The CAA are not responsible for prosecutions, the Police are and in the past when illegal operations have been reported, they've given zero shits in the main and I appreciate that there are more serious crimes to chase up, but the same can be said for someone speeding at 4am on an empty road. 

There's been lots of calls to legislate this not happening again on talk shows but that's not the answer. I'd welcome legislation, it helps my business for example limiting the size of drones sold to non-licence holders to 500g for example, maxing their range to 50m however the people doing this clearly have no regard for any current laws, and more than likely any future ones. My drones both sold openly have a range of 7km, 14 times the legal max distance. Barmy isn't it! 

[Dan.G]

1 hour ago, C8RKH said:

Bloody hell, why is this the governments fault for christ's sake?  Really?

True, it's not the government. But a decisive managerial decision would be nice

[ramjet]

I was thinking about the stray bullets comment from the police?

Use a shotgun. Will bring the drone down and the shot velocity dies off pretty quick. The shot wouldn't even leave the boundary of the airfield.

[andyj007]

2 hours ago, Bibs said:

My drones both sold openly have a range of 7km, 14 times the legal max distance. Barmy isn't it! 

7km OMG  thats totally mad.. these guys could be geo flying these things from 5km away.. no chance of finding those pilots!    

 

[tim_marra]

3 hours ago, Bibs said:

 My drones both sold openly have a range of 7km, 14 times the legal max distance. Barmy isn't it! 

You forgot to put "honest officer" at the end of all that. If I were you i'd expect a knock on the door from Regan and Carter 

[Advantage]

Two people (male + female) were arrested yesterday evening. Gatwick is back to full operation although with the obvious knock-on after effects of the disruption.