Two arrested last night according to news reports.
Getting a conviction will be tricky, unless of course the perpetrators confess.
In a way this episode will be helpful, as it has shown airports and Governements around the world the threat from drones. It’s just rather annoying it was done at Gatwick just before Christmas (deliberate timing, no doubt) rather than, say, Southend airport in February.
Me and my wife were amongst those caught up in the closure of Gatwick. We were due to fly back from Hamburg on Thursday afternoon, however due to the flight being cancelled, we decided to come back via train as cheaper than prices being quoted by BA & Lufthansa (latter with a transfer via Frankfurt).
We travelled from Hamburg to Hannover (change) Cologne to Brussels (change). All on DB ICE Trains and then switched to Eurostar for the last part of the journey. A comfortable and quiet journey home again, with all trains on time and very polite and pleasant staff.
Took 13 hours to get home in the end as opposed to the 1 hour 20 min flight it should have been.
Was anyone else from here also caught up in the disruption at all?
Ben
Getting a conviction will be tricky, unless of course the perpetrators confess.
How much did your Train Journey cost and what were the comparative airfares quoted ?
I suppose it's just like strikes. Would RMT/ASLEF organise a strike between 01:00 and 04:00 on a sunday morning because it is more convenient for most passengers?... It’s just rather annoying it was done at Gatwick just before Christmas (deliberate timing, no doubt) rather than, say, Southend airport in February.
I suppose it's just like strikes. Would RMT/ASLEF organise a strike between 01:00 and 04:00 on a sunday morning because it is more convenient for most passengers?
there are unconfirmed reports the bloke they arrested was fitting windows at the time the drones were flying. No press quote to give yet.Given the technical sophistication involved there will be a large number of tell tale clues on their computers and probably a workshop too. They apparently were from Crawley so people may have seen them launching the drones.
I wonder if people will be able to lauch private action against them to recoup money lost in the incident. I don't see why not, unless it was an utterly baffling accident, it was a deliberate attempt to disrupt travel and result in lost holidays and expensive rebookings.
Have there been any photos of the drones actually flying/landing at Gatwick published yet? I haven’t seen anything. Not saying it didn’t actually happen but I’m surprised that I haven’t seen photographic evidence yet?
Ah ok thanks Bald Rick. I’ve obviously missed that.Yep quite a few out there, some on reputable news websites, some not!
there are unconfirmed reports the bloke they arrested was fitting windows at the time the drones were flying. No press quote to give yet.
The employer of a man reportedly arrested over the drone chaos at Gatwick Airport has spoken out.
He told The Telegraph : "Paul normally comes in around 7.45am and I remember on those days he then worked late on site on a fitting job.
"I don't think it can be him.
"He was busy on site working when it was happening."
BBC news now reporting that they have been released without charge and are no longer suspects.I believe the two arrested are married to each other: doubt if both were out fitting windows!!
A man and woman arrested in connection with drone sightings that grounded flights at Gatwick Airport have been released without charge.
Det Ch Supt Jason Tingley said: "Both people have fully co-operated with our enquiries and I am satisfied that they are no longer suspects in the drone incidents at Gatwick.
Probably not easy when the airport and the emergency services all rely on radio in various ways.I'm amazed signal jamming technology hasn't been used yet.
It might have been a bit difficult to leave the country, what with all the flights being cancelled.If they haven't left the area, or even the country?!? Especially if they are foreign government agents. It's exactly the sort of asymmetric cheap, dirty trick that a foreign government would try to play. Especially if the stooge releasing the drone had no idea of where the airport was or if he was a long way away from the airport and he either had no proper controller or was given a dud.
I was slightly affected, flying into Luton as scheduled but arrived on a remote stand about 2340 and had to wait in the plane for nearly half an hour due to (according to the announcement) all available buses being employed unloading diverted flights. The non-EU passport queue was very long but only a short wait for the electronic gates.Was anyone else from here also caught up in the disruption at all?
I doubt it. Jamming a control signal in UHF bands is unlikely to be acheivable with equipment as small as that, and certainly wouldn't be worth attempting at an operational commercial airport anyway unless radio silence could be organised in very short time, (i.e. no chance). The equipment looks more like a combined visual and IR spotter platform.Is the tan-coloured equipment mounted on the tripod in this BBC photo a military electronic countermeasure? https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/7866/production/_104922803_gettyimages-1085223300.jpg ...
I doubt it. Jamming a control signal in UHF bands is unlikely to be acheivable with equipment as small as that, and certainly wouldn't be worth attempting at an operational commercial airport anyway unless radio silence could be organised in very short time, (i.e. no chance). The equipment looks more like a combined visual and IR spotter platform.
Separately, something that occurred to me which I've not seen mentioned elsewhere yet, is that it could have been part of planning for a Christmas warehouse heist. I would expect high-end drone technology is well within the grasp of organised criminal gangs... "yeah Tony knows a guy who flies them at weekends, let's get him on the crew in return for a cut of the profits".
How would you guard against that?
BBC News said:The BBC has been given access to the airbase where Dutch police are training eagles to take down unauthorised drones.
It comes amid concerns that drones are increasingly being used to commit crimes.
Dutch police are believed to be the first force in the world to use this method.
After Hans and Simon, maybe there's a third Gruber brother that Lieutenant John McClane hasn't dealt with yet?
Seriously though, drones shutting down airports is going to be a hard problem to solve. Imagine a fleet of kamikaze drones, their software hacked so no GPS geofencing, timers installed so that they will launch themselves automatically at preset times, hidden days or weeks beforehand in open countryside or on rooftops within flying distance of the target airfield. Scaled up you could shutdown an airport, or multiple airports, for days on end. How would you guard against that?
Except at other airports, or by surface transportation (sea or E*).It might have been a bit difficult to leave the country, what with all the flights being cancelled.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-46510776
'Stansted 15': Protesters who locked themselves to plane guilty
Fifteen protesters who locked themselves around a deportation plane at Stansted Airport have been convicted of an aviation offence.
The jet had been chartered by the Home Office to take people from UK detention centres to Africa on 28 March 2017.
A jury heard the so-called Stansted 15, who cut through a perimeter fence, had "placed the safety of the airport in a likelihood of danger".
(article continues)
Of course the other option is mass hysteria. As mentioned above, we have no images of these drones and twice they were seen at night. Could the first sighting have been real, followed by later mistaken identity sightings by jumpy security? Could even the first sighting have been mistaken - it was after 9pm at night and at the airfield boundary?