Gatwick Airport Closure - Environmental action?

[Hrothbern]

Perhaps only the first drone spotting was real and the rest the UFO syndrome.
But can you really ignore when your own Airport staf is reporting a drone ? (when that part of the DM story is correct).
Better safe than sorry.
IDK how bad the detection equipment in Gatwick really is. The only fair benchmark would be with what mainstream big airports have installed.
If that's comparable with Gatwick, this was the first real lesson learned.

That it pushed for so many days other news away.... well... isn't that a welcome diversion just like all celebrity and royalty "news" ?
Panem et Circenses (Bread and Games). How much was the government budget of classic Rome on that ? AFAIK just a little bit less than the cost of all legions.

From the Daily Mail on Dec 19-20:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...-drone-spotted-near-airport-SHUTS-runway.html

Police are hunting for the expert drone pilot who has grounded hundreds of planes coming in and out of Gatwick by flying a drone at least ten time
Here is how the chaos has unfolded:
9pm, December 19: Drone is first spotted by airport staff hovering near the runway causing flights to be grounded or diverted.
9.15pm: It appears again leading Gatwick bosses to believe it is a deliberate act.
9.30pm - midnight: The drone is seen at least five more times in that period
3.01am, December 20: Airport re-opens its runway after the all clear is given
3.45am: Drone is seen again and flights are again grounded
7am: Small unmanned aircraft appears again
9am: Last sighting of the drone as police start hunting perimeter of the airport
Midday: Police are unable find the drone pilot despite it appearing again at lunchtime with Gatwick saying all flights are grounded until at least 4pm
2pm: Airport admits it has 'no idea' when it will re-open as police struggle to find the pilot
3pm: The drone is spotted again as it buzzes across Gatwick's runway. It was just minutes after airport bosses announced they had hoped to re-open at 4pm.
4pm: Drone spotted flying over the runway yet again.
5pm: Ministry of Defence confirms that it is using specialist equipment to seek out the drone

 

[Kyriakos]

Would a drone realistically threaten lift-off? Those things fly pretty low and are small. It would be unlikely to have one kamikaze into the pilot's window either.

 

[Hrothbern]

Would a drone realistically threaten lift-off? Those things fly pretty low and are small. It would be unlikely to have one kamikaze into the pilot's window either.

The commercial airliner and the take-off procedure are designed to handle one engine failure: to either safely stop in time if the accident happens before enough speed, or safely take-off with one engine failure when the accident takes place after enough speed is achieved.
But there is ofc the risk that something else goes wrong as well.
So when you know that one risk, that drone (or better an increased chance on collision failure), you know there is a risk at much higher level than usual...
and the "better safe than sorry" overrules.

From a Blog describing engine failure:

So here’s the “yes” part again: if the aircraft weight is within prescribed limits, if the correct speed is maintained and the specified climb gradient is flown, and the lateral ground track of protected airspace is tracked, then yes, the takeoff and climb-out is certified to be successful.
https://jethead.wordpress.com/2015/02/07/flying-an-airliner-after-an-engine-failure-on-takeoff/

 

[metatron]

The police found two drones but they have been ruled out as being responsible.
Police stated that there may have been no drones then quickly back tracked on that statements.
The police were also flying drones that may have added to the confusion.
The man that was held for 36 hours was at work whilst the drones (if any) were flying.

This is all... amazing.
So there may or may not have been a drone sighting?
One?
Or maybe not even that?
And the rest is hysteria and the cops screwing up?
And if there was a drone in the first encounter nobody knows if there was ill intent?
And they didn't get a drone and didn't get a perp?
And they were not going to; basically authorities waited out the drone?
Which - if there was a person with intent - worked because they were scared off due to the investigative pressure?
And we have no idea if that would work in another case?
And what do you do with a drone? Down it?
Fine on an air field, but how do you do that in the city?
Do you just crash it by one means or another and accept that it may hurt third parties?
So essentially the cops have no plan on what to do in these cases?
But they are quite capable of making this worse?
Didn't the morons who believe Musk is going to build hyperloop tell this was gonna be great, because there would be pizza delivery?

So much for the Remainer line that the Leave vote would prevent foreign investment in the UK.

I'm not sure the argument works.
Presumably people would want to leave England, so surely there's business?

 

[Silurian]

This is all... amazing.
So there may or may not have been a drone sighting?
One?
Or maybe not even that?

Well a lot of people saw something but no pictures have been published.

And the rest is hysteria and the cops screwing up?

Well if you have heard reports of a drone flying around and you see something flying around what do you do. Not report it because you are not sure what it is then if an airliner crashes live with the consequences or say something. I don't know why the police were flying their own drones but other people would not know whose drone it was and the police drone could be flying in the same area as an illegal drone. How would the police be able to tell which reports were of their drone and the illegal drone.

And if there was a drone in the first encounter nobody knows if there was ill intent?

It could have been some idiot who just flew a drone a couple of times then heard the reports of the airport closing and stopped but who knows.

And they didn't get a drone and didn't get a perp?

No

And they were not going to; basically authorities waited out the drone?
Which - if there was a person with intent - worked because they were scared off due to the investigative pressure?
And we have no idea if that would work in another case?

They were not waiting it out they were trying to catch the operator.

And what do you do with a drone? Down it?
Fine on an air field, but how do you do that in the city?
Do you just crash it by one means or another and accept that it may hurt third parties?
So essentially the cops have no plan on what to do in these cases?
But they are quite capable of making this worse?

I sure that the police and airports will be having lots of talks over the next few months about options.

Didn't the morons who believe Musk is going to build hyperloop tell this was gonna be great, because there would be pizza delivery?

Drones delivering pizza would illegal at the moment in the UK because the operator could not see the drone and drones are not allowed to be flown near people or buildings. I can not see that changing in the near future,

 

[EnglishEdward]

I'm not sure the argument works.
Presumably people would want to leave England, so surely there's business?

I think that the business cae for the second runway requires repeat business
over seveal years, not a one off exodus of 15 million Remainer voters.

Besides which the government has been hiring ferries.

 

[Hrothbern]

over seveal years, not a one off exodus of 15 million Remainer voters.

Remainers remain... and remain therefore in the UK

Leavers will have their Exodus to the promised land at the other end of the rainbow between Singapore and Brunei

 

[Kaitzilla]

Gatwick Airport south of London has been closed since 900 last night due to drones repeadily flying nearby.

From BBC



https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-46623754

The question who is responsible. Is it just some individual who is just doing it for "fun" or does it have a purpose.
The way it is being carried out makes me think it may be some sort of environmentalist direct action group like Extinction Rebellion. What do you think

From Guardian



https://www.theguardian.com/comment...is-blocking-roads-extinction-rebellion-labour

Down with the drones!

Slightly underwhelming, but illegal for private owners in the US, so pretty cool on average.
Helps protect NASCAR.
https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/11/droneshield-is-keeping-hostile-uavs-away-from-nascar-events/

A tiny Aussie company.
$0.11 per share

 

[tjs282]

Down with the drones!

One of my colleagues actually suggested the other day that this whole thing might have been some kind of guerrilla-marketing stunt to promote exactly this kind of anti-drone tech....

 

[tjs282]

It cost in the region of £20 million which would wipe out most anti-drone tech company.

The alleged stunt may have cost Gatwick PLC that amount in terms of cancelled flights, etc., but the stunt itself would only have cost the price of the drone + operator.

And if the disruption really was of that magnitude, then I would imagine that the anti-drone tech companies could basically write their own paycheques.

Not that I honestly believe it's true: this particular colleague tends to latch onto conspiracy-theorising quite readily...

 

[Kyriakos]

So, how much is a drone costing? I mean the basic ones, not the military type

 

[Hrothbern]

Some update on this affair, 4 months after it happened:

Mr Woodroofe, who was the executive overseeing the airport's response to the attack - the "gold commander" - also said that whoever was piloting the drone could either see what was happening on the runway, or was following the airport's actions by eavesdropping on radio or internet communications.
And whoever was responsible for the attack had "specifically selected" a drone which could not be seen by the DJI Aeroscope drone detection system that the airport was testing at the time, he added.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-47919680