[Travel] Drones spotted at LGW.

[Butch Willykins]

My money’s on a disgruntled Priority Pass customer who’s yet again been told the No.1 lounge is overbooked.

 

[Dave the OAP]

55 sightings!

It's bound to be sone environmental activist!

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Exactly.

I'd blow the whole of Crawley the shit up, too, frankly. Teeming with Islamists and dole-scum.

Wow!

 

[Weststander]

Exactly.

I'd blow the whole of Crawley the shit up, too, frankly. Teeming with Islamists and dole-scum.

You can bet your bottom Euro that there are also plenty of Poles and Bulgarians who took nursing, airport and construction jobs from hard working British patriots.

 

[Milano]

Whoever it is IF they get caught I'm pretty sure they are going to be in for a very nasty shock. CPS will have the backing of MPs to go after every possible charge.

 

[portlock seagull]

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...

We will only ever react post tragedy. It’s the way we as a species work. If you asked all of those stranded in the airport now if they’re happy to pay more tax to prevent this sort of thing many more would say yes. If you’d asked them before this happened, the answer would have been an overwhelming ‘no’. Experts have been warning about this and worse for years. Nothing will be done until at least one, possibly more, aircraft have been brought down by drones causing hundreds of fatalities. Between now and then there will be thousands of hours spent discussing and arguing about doing something but no one will be prepared to spend money on, including passengers who value their £65 Rtn to Tallin more than their lives I.e. Heaven forbid we all have to pay another fiver, that’s how governments fall! And so, we get what we pay for: a misguided illusion that our government is able to protect us, be it from criminals, terrorists or other States. Still, that’s enough for most people. At least until the chaos starts, then we all demand instant action and ask why weren’t we better prepared?

 

[Notters]

Seems to be distracting us from the government's inactivity on brexit quite effectively...

 

[The Large One]

Bogroll. That's the way to bring them down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mFhoMnZ5jA

 

[Milano]

We will only ever react post tragedy. It’s the way we as a species work. If you asked all of those stranded in the airport now if they’re happy to pay more tax to prevent this sort of thing many more would say yes. If you’d asked them before this happened, the answer would have been an overwhelming ‘no’. Experts have been warning about this and worse for years. Nothing will be done until at least one, possibly more, aircraft have been brought down by drones causing hundreds of fatalities. Between now and then there will be thousands of hours spent discussing and arguing about doing something but no one will be prepared to spend money on, including passengers who value their £65 Rtn to Tallin more than their lives I.e. Heaven forbid we all have to pay another fiver, that’s how governments fall! And so, we get what we pay for: a misguided illusion that our government is able to protect us, be it from criminals, terrorists or other States. Still, that’s enough for most people. At least until the chaos starts, then we all demand instant action and ask why weren’t we better prepared?

Depressingly correct. I found out a couple of years ago a depressing fact about permanent road speed cameras - for a new site to be considered there has to have been a fatality caused by speeding, how fecked up is that??

 

[Weststander]

Seems to be distracting us from the government's inactivity on brexit quite effectively...

A relief when any news isn’t Brexit. Most people are bored to tears with it and the reporting on it.

 

[spence]

We will only ever react post tragedy. It’s the way we as a species work. If you asked all of those stranded in the airport now if they’re happy to pay more tax to prevent this sort of thing many more would say yes. If you’d asked them before this happened, the answer would have been an overwhelming ‘no’. Experts have been warning about this and worse for years. Nothing will be done until at least one, possibly more, aircraft have been brought down by drones causing hundreds of fatalities. Between now and then there will be thousands of hours spent discussing and arguing about doing something but no one will be prepared to spend money on, including passengers who value their £65 Rtn to Tallin more than their lives I.e. Heaven forbid we all have to pay another fiver, that’s how governments fall! And so, we get what we pay for: a misguided illusion that our government is able to protect us, be it from criminals, terrorists or other States. Still, that’s enough for most people. At least until the chaos starts, then we all demand instant action and ask why weren’t we better prepared?

You shouldn't have to pay more tax every time something like this happens. We are a major power with plenty of resources. It's not good enough.

 

[portlock seagull]

Whoever it is IF they get caught I'm pretty sure they are going to be in for a very nasty shock. CPS will have the backing of MPs to go after every possible charge.

A massive 2.5 years in a prison. It’s not exactly the harshest deterrent, and let’s face facts, they would be released a lot earlier with tagging, good behaviour etc

 

[Weststander]

You shouldn't have to pay more tax every time something like this happens. We are a major power with plenty of resources. It's not good enough.

Until today hard anyone cared and government’s making new rules are always criticised (Nanny State). Significant spending on anti drone measures would have been pilloried.

 

[Change at Barnham]

Sky News just mentioned that they suspect that possibly 4 drones have been used.
I'm due to fly on Sunday which I wasn't feeling too worried about, but they've now mentioned that they expect Gatwick to be closed tomorrow (Fri) also.
If it is closed again for the day tomorrow that would be over 200 000 people disrupted.

 

[Milano]

You shouldn't have to pay more tax every time something like this happens. We are a major power with plenty of resources. It's not good enough.

Anyone with half a brain can see the potential disaster/chaos a drone could cause in the wrong hands. Yet here we are with virtually no control over them. You need a license to go fishing but flying a bloody drone without any real control is OK?
This is a case of when not if. The 'average' citizen of this country does not need to own a flipping drone. They should be regulated with massive penalties for unlicensed use.

 

[Milano]

A massive 2.5 years in a prison. It’s not exactly the harshest deterrent, and let’s face facts, they would be released a lot earlier with tagging, good behaviour etc

That's not going to happen here.

 

[vegster]

Bogroll. That's the way to bring them down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mFhoMnZ5jA

Shot ! We should have fired Andrex at them pesky Super Étendard's during the Falklands war.

 

[portlock seagull]

You shouldn't have to pay more tax every time something like this happens. We are a major power with plenty of resources. It's not good enough.

In theory yes, but in reality we don’t pay nearly enough and that’s before all the tax evasion and avoidance comes into the equation. It’s not just big corporates fiddling the system, millions don’t pay e.g. road tax, VAT and so forth.

 

[Wilko]

Just got home having left my hotel in Barcelona at 8am this morning. A cancelled flight, a new flight to Stansted and 4.5 hours on a coach. Painful day.

 

[vegster]

My son-in-law is currently shepherding and rounding up on a school skiing trip in the Italian Alps and is due to fly back Saturday, starting to get a bit jittery now.