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Gatwick closed (mod note post 1)

Mebuntu

LGW has been closed for some time. Diversions in progress.

Mod Note added 23/12/2018:

This is not the Conspiracy Theories forum, nor is it After Hours. Posters who do not come here often are asked to read the charter. Conspiracy theory posts are not acceptable here.

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nim1bdeh38l2cw

joe40 wrote: »

The americans would have launched jets and shot it down by now.
Seriously though this level of disruption achieved in a relatively simple way won't go unnoticed.

There's not just one drone hovering constantly over the airport since 9pm last night.......

Oafley Jones

joe40 wrote: »

The americans would have launched jets and shot it down by now.
Seriously though this level of disruption achieved in a relatively simple way won't go unnoticed.

What the Americans are actually doing...

https://www.google.ie/amp/s/www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2017/11/14/16634572/dji-aeroscope-drone-detection-interception-tech-next-level-lauren-goode

robinph

I guess it's still not ending anytime soon, the military have been called in:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-sussex-46564814?ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=twitter&ns_campaign=bbc_live&ns_linkname=5c1bb9bd3a2f470665a2430b%26Gatwick%20disruption%3A%20Army%20in%20discussion%20with%20police%262018-12-20T15%3A49%3A29.222Z&ns_fee=0&pinned_post_locator=urn:asset:d1b0937f-9142-42ec-9343-e331046f1106&pinned_post_asset_id=5c1bb9bd3a2f470665a2430b&pinned_post_type=share

Could be just for extra manpower to search the area, could be to have some people in cammo gear holding big guns standing around to scare people into the open. As far as shooting stuff out of the sky though I don't see that they can do anything much that the Police can't do themselves, bigger guns are not going to help anyway if they don't know what they are shooting at.

4068ac1elhodqr

Paulina Fit Slime wrote: »

There's not just one drone hovering constantly over the airport since 9pm last night.......

Maybe two, but hardly a swarm.

They said they didn't want to take it/them down incase of any projectile presenting a risk to the public (assuming on descent)

Surely there's acres of open fields around the port, meaning they could even send up a bow and arrow and not worry too much about it coming back down and landing on anyone.

Instead allow of the disruption of 30-100k folks.

Still good practice for the brexit perhaps with flights delayed or cancelled.

Mebuntu

For all we know there may be something attached to the drones that the police are not saying anything about.

...FR9852 from Cork to Gatwick is now descending into Stansted. Fair play to Ryanair for keeping things going all day.

plodder

There must be a worry that there is a major level of organisation and game changing tactics. Like what if dozens of drones have been planted in various locations and they are going to just keep launching them one at a time, at 3-4 hour intervals. They could be anywhere, like on the roofs of buildings in a several mile radius. Though Heathrow would be a better place for that kind of attack given how much more built up the surrounding area is.

robinph

The length of time this has been going on, and that we know drones don't stay in the air forever, there has to be some details missing from the reporting. Have they been crashing, is it the same drone being relaunched, is it one end of the airport rather than the other. Little things like that I'd expect to have been appearing on the twittersphere by now.

If they were taking off/ landing outside of the airport perimeter then someone must have seen something by now.

jasper100

So what sort of damage would a tiny drone do to a plane? Even if it hit an engine and managed to shut it down there is still a spare engine. If it hits anywhere else it would just bounce off and get destroyed presumably?

Van.Bosch

Mebuntu wrote: »

Just been checking Ryanair's Gatwick - Dublin flights today. Funnily enough, they are showing as cancelled on their website but all bar one so far appear on Flightradar as having operated (or are currently operating) from Stansted. Example FR115 over MAN at 14.55.

Maybe they are flying back empty as the pax would be in LGW?

Inquitus

jasper100 wrote: »

So what sort of damage would a tiny drone do to a plane? Even if it hit an engine and managed to shut it down there is still a spare engine. If it hits anywhere else it would just bounce off and get destroyed presumably?

I saw an article somewhere today about this, one of the concerns was the batteries could lodge themselves in the planes fusilage on impact and then they would combust. A drone could also smash the pilot's windshield. These are unlikely outcomes I would imagine, I assume it would also make shíte of an engine too, as you mention.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-46632892

In October 2017, a drone collided with a commercial aircraft in Canada, striking one of the plane's wings. The plane sustained minor damage but was able to land safely.

Experts agree that a drone could damage an aircraft
Research on drone damage to aircraft is still limited but a number of institutions have tested a variety of impact scenarios and each seems to reach a different conclusion.

Tests conducted at the University of Dayton in the US mimicked a midair collision between a 2.1lb (1kg) quadcopter and a commercial aircraft travelling at 238mph (383km/h) and appeared to show it inflicting major damage.

Other research from the Alliance for System Safety of Unmanned aircraft system through research Excellence (Assure) in conjunction with the US's Federal Aviation Authority suggested drones could inflict more damage than a bird collision and the lithium ion batteries that power them may not shatter upon impact, instead becoming lodged in airframes and posing a potential risk of fire.

Ravi Vaidyanathan, a robotics lecturer at Imperial College, London, told the BBC: "The threat posed to larger aircraft by drones is small but not negligible.

"The probability of a collision is small but a drone could be drawn into a turbine.

"A drone greater than 2kg might break the cockpit windshield as well for certain aircraft."

Alun

jasper100 wrote: »

So what sort of damage would a tiny drone do to a plane? Even if it hit an engine and managed to shut it down there is still a spare engine. If it hits anywhere else it would just bounce off and get destroyed presumably?

Not really ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH0V7kp-xg0

Jeff2

jasper100 wrote: »

So what sort of damage would a tiny drone do to a plane? Even if it hit an engine and managed to shut it down there is still a spare engine. If it hits anywhere else it would just bounce off and get destroyed presumably?

Posted in other thread

GBX wrote: »

Aeromexico Boeing 737-800 sustained serious damage as it allegedly collided with a drone on approach to Tijuana International Airport, Mexico according to local media

The flight #AM770 from Guadalajara completed the descent without complications, according to Diario de Colima, which noted that passengers disembarked from the plane normally.

EdgeCase

The French have various anti drone drones for just this kind of thing, including one that just catches the rogue drone in a net.

I'm really surprised they're not able to deal with this a lot more rapidly.

bilston

The longer it goes on the more you have to think there is a lot more to this story than we are being told.

antodeco

There has to be something missing from.the reporting. Its weird how drones can shut down the airport for over 18 hours at this stage. They need to be recharged, or there needs to be several of these for it to be going in for so long. As someone said, at this stage I would've assumed they'd have been able to trace the origin of the signal or even kill the drones. It's just all very odd.

robinph

'Substantial drones' used at Gatwick, says transport secretary

Unclear if that means a couple of big drones, or lots of little drones.

Inquitus

antodeco wrote: »

There has to be something missing from.the reporting. Its weird how drones can shut down the airport for over 18 hours at this stage. They need to be recharged, or there needs to be several of these for it to be going in for so long. As someone said, at this stage I would've assumed they'd have been able to trace the origin of the signal or even kill the drones. It's just all very odd.

Every time they go to restart operations the drone re-appears apparently, they are being expertly trolled by whomever it is.

Reati

Alun wrote: »

Not really ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH0V7kp-xg0

That video has been discredited by several groups.

Anyway, Drone pilot myself. Feel free to shout if you have questions on the topic.

In a nutshell, as a few have said, this has to be a planned attack. The drones are much bigger than your off the shelf drones. It would be flyable with one person but would be better with two. It has lights added to it to make sure it was seen. It has been custom built or modded to avoid GEO (the system using GPS to stop people being able to do this at aircraft) assuming it's using DJI parts. At my guess, it would have 15mins in the air.

I am struggling though how no one has seen it return to landing point and reported that. They are not very subtle. Like I can't take my gear out in a field in the middle of the Kerry mountains without someone asking "what's that?" What you doing?"

Another pilot was asking me could they not follow the drone home with a police drone but I bet they are running afowl of GEO which has a unlock period when done correctly!

Idbatterim

Some 10,000 passengers were affected last night, and a further 110,000 were due to either take off or land at the airport on 760 flights today.

https://www.thejournal.ie/gatwick-airport-flights-drones-4406657-Dec2018/

110,000 that is mental, dublin airport is expecting 94,000 on its busiest day of the year, tomorrow!

https://www.dublinairport.com/latest-news/detail/busiest-christmas-ever-at-dublin-airports

Hurrache

If this was a movie, because of the duration of the activity, no pictures in the time of social media, and the military getting involved, it can only be one thing, aliens.

Mr.Crinklewood

Hurrache wrote: »

If this was a movie, because of the duration of the activity, no pictures in the time of social media, and the military getting involved, it can only be one thing, aliens.

Thought the lack of photos or videos on mainstream and social media was strange...

MarkHenderson

Very bizarre. You'd worry about copycats in the coming days also.

EdgeCase

Hurrache wrote: »

If this was a movie, because of the duration of the activity, no pictures in the time of social media, and the military getting involved, it can only be one thing, aliens.

It would be one very boring movie!

Mebuntu

Van.Bosch wrote: »

Maybe they are flying back empty as the pax would be in LGW?

I had thought of that but, usually, positioning flight numbers have the letter "P" added. Maybe they are texting passengers to get to STN if possible but unlikely every one of them would make it.

Reati

Mr.Crinklewood wrote: »

Thought the lack of photos or videos on mainstream and social media was strange...

You wouldn't get much on a phone other than a blurry dot if you were in a good spot. There is a few videos of it last night flying around the runway with lights on top of it.

The press can't get close enough to it as they don't know where it will show up.

Hurrache

Is Gatwick not covered by plane spotters like Dublin is? You'd think they'd have spotted and caught something the first couple of times.

uck51js9zml2yt

EdgeCase wrote: »

It would be one very boring movie!

Once no one is droning on we're ok

Kermit.de.frog

Apparently it's a commercial size drone(s), not the cheaper plastic ones. Hardly makes much difference to the risk anyhow.

A cheap and cheerful way to bring massive disruption that's unlikely to go unnoticed elsewhere!

[Deleted User]

lawred2 wrote: »

kinda concerning... what's to stop a worldwide concerted effort to shut airports down?

if all it takes is one man and his drone...

It's my belief that there will be a major terrorist attack(s) using drones in the near future. The technology has gotten so cheap, and the stuff they can do with programmed GPS routes, improved flight time, flying in convoy, over walls etc. I shudder to think of the possibilities.

Thankfully in this case it just seems to be somebody intent on causing disruption. Perhaps an ex-employee with a grudge.

recyclebin

I'm surprised it took so long for drones to be used to do something like this. I thought they would more likely be used to interfere with some of the world leaders travel plans or events.