Gatwick Chaos

[vwdan]

What I may lack in weight I make up with technique

And my propeller is a good drone-shredding device..

Hehe! I'm only messin' - I like the cost appeal of microlights, they're just too restrictive for me.

[NotAllThere]

Estimated two hour long wait to queue for a coffee.

Oh the horror!

Like spitfires used to do with V1 doodlebugs.

There's a SciFi book (in two volumes) that references that. Blackout and All Clear by Connie Willis. Excellent time travel story set during WW2.

[GJABS]

Hehe! I'm only messin' - I like the cost appeal of microlights, they're just too restrictive for me.

Restrictive? Maybe in some respects. But in mine I've flown to Cornwall, Dundee, Normandy, up to 10,000 feet, and landed everywhere from farm strips to Southampton airport. Cruises at 80 knots too (95 mph).
Great fun..

[psychocandy]

Some woman on BBC website saying they're trip to lapland was ruined and they couldn't get any money back because they're flight was never cancelled completely.

I can see how, yes, sadly a weekend away is completely ****ed by a 24 hour delay, but shes saying "insurance is difficult as Finnair did not officially cancel the flight".

Surely if you're trip is massively ****ed because of this you can claim on insurance? If you're going for say, 4 days and you're outward flight is delayed by, say, 3 days then surely this is, in effect, cancellation? (Sure my insurance allows me to treat as cancelation after certain delay?)

Then again, you never know these days whether its just the person tried to save a few quid and didn't bother with insurance.

[meridian]

Are you really COTBAC ?

I wouldn’t normally, in my opinion of scuminess they’re only just above British Airways.

The flight schedule was ideal this time though. Until I had to drive to Stansted.

[vwdan]

Restrictive? Maybe in some respects. But in mine I've flown to Cornwall, Dundee, Normandy, up to 10,000 feet, and landed everywhere from farm strips to Southampton airport. Cruises at 80 knots too (95 mph).
Great fun..

Yeah, but I don't think the little one is gonna be happy sitting on the wing (Well, they might be actually). I can absolutely see the appeal but even in a Warrior you can't get 4 adults in and fuel

[Uncle Albert]

Some woman on BBC website saying they're trip to lapland was ruined and they couldn't get any money back because they're flight was never cancelled completely.

I can see how, yes, sadly a weekend away is completely ****ed by a 24 hour delay, but shes saying "insurance is difficult as Finnair did not officially cancel the flight".

Surely if you're trip is massively ****ed because of this you can claim on insurance? If you're going for say, 4 days and you're outward flight is delayed by, say, 3 days then surely this is, in effect, cancellation? (Sure my insurance allows me to treat as cancelation after certain delay?)

Then again, you never know these days whether its just the person tried to save a few quid and didn't bother with insurance.

If they took the cheap insurance option they probably aren't covered.

Gatwick Airport drone chaos: Can I get compensation? - BBC News

It is important to note that extra compensation, which is normally paid under EU rules if the delay is the fault of the airline, will not be paid in this case, as the closure of Gatwick was beyond the airlines' control.

[washed up contractor]

There quite a lot of bulltulip doing the rounds on this incident. I fly RC scale Helicopters which are not drones but the technology is the same.

We fly on 2.4ghz with transmitters and receivers that frequency 'hop' to reject unwanted interference. That doesnt mean their frequency cannot be jammed. All one needs do is turn on a more powerful transmitter in the same frequency band. Yes, the 2.4ghz frequency is quite big but the frequency used for RC is quite narrow. There are other Users of the frequency such as wifi and some older mobile phones.

Drones can vary in size from tiny indoor ones to those about the diameter of a bin lid. Note that even these are not a solid disc and normally have a central tray to carry electronics, battery and small camera. The irony is the larger the drone, the more likely it being lightweight for its size as carbon fibre would likely be used in its construction so size doesnt immediately relate to a far heavier drone.

Maximum flight time is around 45 minutes tops. That gives you a theoretical maximum outward and return duration of about 20 minutes since one way will likely be wind assisted with the other against the wind, ergo uses more power in one leg of the flight.

Drone weight, air temperature and wind speed will all impact flight time. It is also quite tiring flying continuously for 10 - 15 minutes although GPS way point flight lessens this, it doesnt remove it altogether.

The drone will need to land frequently and new batteries fitted. Even recharging takes time and a power source. Charging from a car battery will not really cut it.

Even a large drone, the diameter of a bin lid would not bring down an airliner. It took a flock of geese and multiple strikes to force the plane in the US to ditch in the New York river. Even so, the pilot made a controlled landing.

Yes, a drone could bring down a cessna sized plane. No, a responsible model or drone flyer isnt behind this.

I find it incredible the lack of action taken in this incident, a major UK airport was effectively closed for 2+ days. The drone was supposedly sighted over 50 time yet they still could trace its landing point? Strange how Transport Secretary Grayling has only just surfaced in all the commotion.

[vwdan]

Even a large drone, the diameter of a bin lid would not bring down an airliner. It took a flock of geese and multiple strikes to force the plane in the US to ditch in the New York river. Even so, the pilot made a controlled landing.
.

This is a very, very dangerous and somewhat irresponsible way of thinking. Is a single drone likely to take down an airliner - no, probably not. Could it - absolutely. A drone ingested into an engine is highly likely to take out the engine, even if temporarily - in fact, almost certainly so.

Considering things like ETOPS, many many airlines are now twin engine, even long haul stuff.

Taking that into account, doing something like that at a critical moment of flight, close to the ground, is seriously dangerous. You're removing the aircraft's redundancy and upsetting the flight at the worst moment - are the pilots likely to keep it under control and sort it? Yes, one would absolutely hope so. Is it guaranteed - most definitely not. Could you be looking at a new engine? Probably. Remember you're talking speeds of >150mph

Now that's just assuming engines - there isn't much in the sky quite like a big drone, but some of the damage that appears to have been caused by them is fairly immense. So when you're talking a coordinated attack, with more than one drone, the risk for serious injury and death absolutely exists. I also feel the difference between an unknown actor acting deliberately vs a dumb bird.

although GPS way point flight lessens this, it doesnt remove it altogether.

Uhm, many drones are capable of completely autonomous flight.

We fly on 2.4ghz with transmitters and receivers that frequency 'hop' to reject unwanted interference.

Many drones also use 5.8GhZ.

All one needs do is turn on a more powerful transmitter in the same frequency band. Yes, the 2.4ghz frequency is quite big but the frequency used for RC is quite narrow. There are other Users of the frequency such as wifi and some older mobile phones.

Ah, I love the internet where everything sounds so easy. Firstly, that's generally illegal and for that reason - the equipment to do isn't routinely employed or equipped. Secondly, "there are other users" is about the biggest understatement in the world - the 2.4ghz band is used by a huuuuuge range of devices as it's one of the most popular ISM bands. It'd probably be easier to go and list the things that aren't, because if it's wireless and you don't need a license then chances are it's on ISM. You don't get to just jam a certain frequency range to that kind of accuracy - you ARE going to cause interference, especially when you're going to need to try and deploy it some way away from the drone.


I'm also not convinced about this bit "but the frequency used for RC is quite narrow", which just doesn't sound quite right.

[MarillionFan]

Some woman on BBC website saying they're trip to lapland was ruined and they couldn't get any money back because they're flight was never cancelled completely.

I can see how, yes, sadly a weekend away is completely ****ed by a 24 hour delay, but shes saying "insurance is difficult as Finnair did not officially cancel the flight".

Surely if you're trip is massively ****ed because of this you can claim on insurance? If you're going for say, 4 days and you're outward flight is delayed by, say, 3 days then surely this is, in effect, cancellation? (Sure my insurance allows me to treat as cancelation after certain delay?)

Then again, you never know these days whether its just the person tried to save a few quid and didn't bother with insurance.

Find the ****er who did and sue them.