Gatwick Chaos

[tazdevil]

OK who's been droning over Gatwick? And why aren't these things detected and taken down, there appears to be plenty of anti drone technology available.

[Jog On]

OK who's been droning over Gatwick? And why aren't these things detected and taken down, there appears to be plenty of anti drone technology available.

Ex clientco of mine - anti-drone measures are in the pipeline... The challenge is anti-drone technology that doesn't interfere with aircraft and air traffic control.

People will do it and there's not much to stop it. Bit like shining laser pens at pilots coming in to land.

They have people with guns patrolling the airfield with guns to shoot birds

[minestrone]

I would guess using a drone jammer in an airport might not be the smartest move.

Only a matter of time before one gets maliciously used to bring down a plane.

[tazdevil]

I would guess using a drone jammer in an airport might not be the smartest move.

Only a matter of time before one gets maliciously used to bring down a plane.

I bet the Israelis have the appropriate technology and as this must be a problem common to all airports it must be possible to deploy a workable solution. I bet the military airports have something that works

[minestrone]

Should get a squadron of hunter seeker drones. Teenagers sitting on deck chairs playing fortnite until the siren goes off. Be like 1940 all over again.

[Old Greg]

OK who's been droning over Gatwick? And why aren't these things detected and taken down, there appears to be plenty of anti drone technology available.

It's the secret EUSSR army, war gaming hard Brexit scenarios.

[Bean]

Should get a squadron of hunter seeker drones. Teenagers sitting on deck chairs playing fortnite until the siren goes off. Be like 1940 all over again.

There’s already drone racing...why not just get some of the best racers (read chasers), with a chaser drone adjusted to deliver an electric current to fry the mischievous drone causing the problem!

[Hobosapien]

Surely consumer drones use a frequency for remote control that is not interfering with airports or aircraft so just jam that frequency around the airfield border.

Also, if planes are built to withstand bird strikes then surely a small plastic drone ain't going to do as much damage as a frozen turkey or whatever they use to test such things.

I therefore feel this is not a technical problem but more of typical governing/management slowness to implement workable solutions in practice. This incident should at least speed that up somewhat.

Strange that flights were suspended for a while at around 3am but when re-started at around 4am the drones came back, suggesting maliciousness or indeed terrorism.

[BR14]

It's the secret EUSSR army, war gaming hard Brexit scenarios.

more fecking thread pollution.

[Hobosapien]

Update: Situation still ongoing and flights disrupted while runway closed until at least 11am.

Gatwick Airport: Drone sightings cause delays - BBC News

Drone seen at 7am, ongoing since 9pm yesterday, so not just some kids or local numpties, too persistent.

Police still not tracked culprit(s) down. Shows a lack of preparedness for such an incident to not be resolved yet, giving others incentive to try similar.

Updated update: Around 10,000 passengers directly affected and other advised not to travel as planes grounded. Those opportunist taxi drivers charging e.g. £600 for a trip from Cardiff to London are going to do well out of the chaos as planes get diverted all over the place and people desperate to get to London for crimbo.