[Travel] Drones spotted at LGW.

[Deportivo Seagull]

Obviously.

Of course it’s obvious but there are lots of comments on various media platforms as to why the police aren’t shooting them down ....

 

[Chinman3000]

The concern with shooting the thing down is that if you miss the round has to come down somewhere. If it hits someone that there is a good chance that they (and there families) won’t be celebrating Christmas.

Shotgun

 

[SUIYHP]

could a drone even bring a plane down ? worst case would be an engine malfunction much like a large bird could do. In those instances the plane just lands with its other engines. Seems a bit over the top

I’m no aviation expert but these planes are flying pretty regularly no? The damage could be very expensive to fix. A drone strike would inevitably ground the plane whilst they checked for any potential damage, meaning that if that plane was scheduled to take off you’d have to rebook the passengers onto another flight. This doesn’t even consider the fact that in a worst case scenario that plane is out of action for weeks as it goes through expensive engine repairs. Passengers are upset because they miss their flight, airline company is upset because lots of money is lost and the entire airport is upset because of disrupted services. All of it could have been entirely preventable if the cockwomble didn’t play with his toy near the airport in the first place...

 

[Lush]

Sussex Police have confirmed the drone is believed to be "of industrial specification". I'm guessing that means it isn't something you can buy in the local high street... but what is an industrial specification drone?

What they need is a catapult of industrial specification.

 

[surrey jim]

7pm now

Airports twitter page still saying closed until 4. Where did you see that it was closed until 7?

 

[crabface]

Airports twitter page still saying closed until 4. Where did you see that it was closed until 7?

BBC reporting that it is now 7.

 

[vegster]

Shotgun

Pecisely, no risk of stray bullets as the shot won't go more than a hundred yards or so.

 

[Napper]

Airports twitter page still saying closed until 4. Where did you see that it was closed until 7?

guardian online has a live reporting link from Gatwick , seems more up to date than the BBC

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...rt-drone-travel-chaos-disruption-live-updates

 

[SeagullTim]

Some train companies are offering journeys on production of boarding passes. LNER are according to Twitter.

Was supposed to fly out of Edinburgh at 6:25 and with only offers of rerouting to Stansted and Bristol, this has been massive from LNER. Rattling through the northern countryside now. Thameslink will also honour boarding passes to get people to Gatwick from Kings Cross.

 

[pb21]

How can someone still be doing this?
Started at 9 last night (ish) I think and still yanking the Airport/Police's chain 18 hours (ish) later.
The net must be closing in but I think if I was doing this I'd maybe fly it for long enough to get my point across and then bugger off before getting caught.
18hrs is showing either dedication or stupidity.

Or confidence they wont be caught and/or brought to justice.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Airports twitter page still saying closed until 4. Where did you see that it was closed until 7?

Definately being reported as 7pm now. And it's getting dark, if the police don't find the operator in the next hour I'd suggest the cat and mouse game will continue throughout the night.

 

[Arthritic Toe]

It does seem a bit odd that this cat-and-mouse game is still going on. And I find it hard to believe the police can’t shoot the thing down, or jam it somehow. If you can shoot Brazilian electricians on a busy train you can surely fire a bullet at drone? And as I’ve said before this threat has been around for ages and is applicable to all airports...why hasn’t it happened elsewhere? Lots of questions?

I guess no one has thought of it, and the ability to paralyse an airport in this simple manner has been overlooked. Remember, before 9/11, no one had hijacked planes and used them as weapons. The fact that you could access the flight-deck relatively easily and with minimal weapons, had been overlooked because it had never happened and no one had really thought of it.

 

[MJsGhost]

Hmmm... I assume, these days, that the technology is there to remotely operate these things from hundreds of miles away. Fly it back to some rented garage, onto a charger, and back out the next night...
Apparently the reason they don't shoot it down is because the bullets could end up anywhere. Really?

If they miss, where do you think the bullet goes?

It’s the same principle for armed police in every other scenario though.

When firing up (i.e. into the air at the drone), one can't know where the bullet will go should one miss.

Not the same as a 'typical' scenario where they might fire at a person and be able to see what's behind them in case they miss (i.e. normally a wall or vehicle if in a city, or an open field if out in the sticks...).

I'm no expert, but I presume they can't take a shot unless they can see where the bullet would go (and that it'd be safe) in case they miss.

Latest reports suggest there are now snipers on site, so we'll see!

There are a few in my office keeping track of progress as they have flights booked this evening - what a sh|t situation for people just wanting to fly off to visit their families...

Good luck with your journey HT

 

[Ernest]

The army coming in to sort it out now

 

[Westdene Seagull]

The army coming in to sort it out now

I suspect the operator will now be worrying how nice the SAS really are !

 

[Deportivo Seagull]

I also think it's a bit OTT. If there's only one drone I'd have thought the chances of it entering an engine are about as low as a goose doing soon.

I think that at 700+ flights a day the odds are are a lot higher than you think. Also birds don’t deliberately try to fly into planes.

 

[Deportivo Seagull]

Pecisely, no risk of stray bullets as the shot won't go more than a hundred yards or so.

It would work provided the drone is low and enough.

 

[MJsGhost]

When firing up (i.e. into the air at the drone), one can't know where the bullet will go should one miss.

Not the same as a 'typical' scenario where they might fire at a person and be able to see what's behind them in case they miss (i.e. normally a wall or vehicle if in a city, or an open field if out in the sticks...).

I'm no expert, but I presume they can't take a shot unless they can see where the bullet would go (and that it'd be safe) in case they miss.

Latest reports suggest there are now snipers on site, so we'll see!

There are a few in my office keeping track of progress as they have flights booked this evening - what a sh|t situation for people just wanting to fly off to visit their families...

Good luck with your journey HT

...basically, THIS:

It isn't as it happens. Armed police are generally shooting at a target from above or horizontally, they can make a risk assessment of where any bullets will end up - that is an essential part of their training assessing the background. A bullet travelling horizontally will generally hit something or travel about 2000metres. Shooting upward, you have absolutely no idea where the trajectory will take a bullet, they can reach 10,000ft and wind means they can go anywhere. A falling bullet from height when it reaches its terminal velocity still has the potential to kill.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Could see the drones from my office, in not sure what the issue is to take them out!!

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

The army coming in to sort it out now

Yippee ki yay.


Sounding more and more like Die Hard 2.