[Travel] Drones spotted at LGW.

[dazzer6666]

Someone very likely to be ITK has indicated there have been 50 sightings today, including one landing on the runway and one on Pier 2.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Flights finally cancelled about 4.30, now rebooked to Lanzarote via Dublin on Friday/Saturday.

What a palaver. Hope it works out. Good luck.

 

[Lyndhurst 14]

Could a drone do this in NYC?

Not a chance - it would have been lasered when it first appeared.

 

[Seagulltonian]

Picking up from another website already mentioned in this thread!

The Yanks won't give a shit if it's causing a problem, they will blast it to kingdom come, and sod the results!

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/10/05/faa_drone_law/

 

[worthingseagull123]

It will be an environmental nut job.

The need to start rounding up local environmentalists

 

[dazzer6666]

Footage in this tweet

[tweet]1075851779605184512[/tweet]

 

[AmexRuislip]

I dread to think of Sussex residents water bills, come next year

 

[Poojah]

I worked at Gatwick some time ago and I think you pretty soon realised that all the security measures are really just there to give you an illusion of safety. Even with the high tech improvements that have been made since anybody who is determined enough will find a way to crack the system – as this person has clearly demonstrated. You pays your money and you takes your choice.

That's frightening but sadly not surprising. I was at Manchester Airport and had reached the departure lounge when I realised I'd forgotten to take a fairly sizeable bottle of water out of my laptop bag - it would have been obvious on a scanner but sailed through nonetheless. If it starts to become apparent that airport security is in fact far more porous than previously advertised then it starts to become a worryingly attractive target.

 

[Springal]

Footage in this tweet

https://twitter.com/dronemotionuk/status/1075851779605184512?s=21

Should be easy to shoot looking at the size of it / its movement

 

[dazzer6666]

Should be easy to shoot looking at the size of it / its movement

Any decent clay pigeon shooter would have that down in seconds.......with no risk to anyone on the ground

 

[Bozza]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hNv9PnmML8

 

[Bozza]

Any decent clay pigeon shooter would have that down in seconds.......with no risk to anyone on the ground

They sent in snipers by all accounts...

 

[Cotton Socks]

One of the news channels this evening showed film of one of the drones mid air. Gatwick confirmed that there were more than one. Most probably an orchestrated event by people who dropped off the hardware, then are operating these industrial quality drones remotely from a long way away. Deliberately keeping them hidden and grounded, until Gatwick mention a possible opening time, them up in the air again. The first such ‘attack’ in global aviation. These are not tiny plastic toys operated by kids. Good that safety is the priority.

I completely agree that safety should and is the priority. I was just summarising what i'd read on the thread. I've only been to the BBC news website, which says less than this thread.
In theory though they've only got to get a few more drones, in a few more places and could bring the UK airports to a standstill for god knows how long, unless someone comes up with an idea quickly how to deal with it.

 

[dazzer6666]

They sent in snipers by all accounts...

Nah, Peckham’s finest marksman

https://youtu.be/jRCvGiONTIs

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Well, on the surface this is an incredibly frustrating, upsetting and potentially costly situation for anyone unfortunate enough to be caught up in it, I fear the bigger picture is a lot more serious than that.

Complex or not, the apparent inability of our authorities and now even the military to deal with something as rudimentary as a drone is not only highly embarrassing, it’s almost an open invitation to would-be terrorists to come and have a pop at our airports. I imagine one of the main deterrents to attacking an airport and / or aircraft is the perceived level of security which protects them.

This is now a pretty public, global advertisement that they are in fact perhaps not as secure as we all thought. I’m admittedly no expert on the matter, however surely it should simply not be this easy to bring an entire, major international airport to a complete standstill. Where the hell was the contingency plan for something like this?

And it’s not just about airports - there has to be a complete and sudden change to the laws surrounding drones. If you have the means to make an explosive device, and let’s not forget that a teenager from Manchester was able to make an incredibly devastating one only recently, then what’s to stop a group from flying a number of bomb-laden drones into a football stadium or shopping centre? It could be absolute carnage.

I appreciate that counter-terrorism will always be a game of cat and mouse. The idea of 9/11 was inconceivable prior to those atrocities. But in this case, the potential consequences are so abundantly and blindingly obvious.

Let’s take one positive from this and take heed before something far more sinister takes place. Because if we don’t, it’s only a matter of time...

It is beyond embarrassing. We are a joke of a nation.

 

[LVGull]

It is beyond embarrassing. We are a joke of a nation.

Absolute bollocks. Shoot the thing down or track. Something else is going on.

 

[Springal]

Absolute bollocks. Shoot the thing down or track. Something else is going on.

Yeah and wait for a big heavy dust bin lid sized item to fall on someones head. And firing bullets across an airfield. I'm sure Branson won't mind a 747 being collateral damage

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Absolute bollocks. Shoot the thing down or track. Something else is going on.

You have lost me there LV. Do you think all this sitting around while people bugger about with drones is bollocks, or that my comment is bollocks

Or Both?

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I sat and watched a buzzard in my back garden yesterday, take down a dove, then spend an hour eviscerating and scoffing it.

Could do a job

 

[AmexRuislip]

You have lost me there LV. Do you think all this sitting around while people bugger about with drones is bollocks, or that my comment is bollocks

Or Both?

Can I speak for LV