Drones @ Gatwick

[debrooker]

Bit crazy at Gatwick - feel sorry for those travellers. Won't be good for the hobby.

[Crumpet]

We're lucky that they tend not to notice how similar they are to helis so helis/planes dont get much of a bad name

[trillian]

They're saying that these were not your typical entry-level consumer devices, that they were bigger 'industrial' drones. 'Not sure if that distinction is good or bad in regard to the potential impact on our hobby.

I'm slightly puzzled though because on CNN I heard them say something about people being stranded at Gatwick for many hours - well, those drones cannot fly for hours and hours like that can they? I know someone that has a very professional camera setup and it can only fly about 20 minutes at a time :abnormal:

[ChrisB]

Hope they catch them and the pilots get taken for everything they have got and more to compensate everyone.

[tourerjim]

[QUOTE=trillian;1230084]They're saying that these were not your typical entry-level consumer devices, that they were bigger 'industrial' drones. 'Not sure if that distinction is good or bad in regard to the potential impact on our hobby.

I'm slightly puzzled though because on CNN I heard them say something about people being stranded at Gatwick for many hours - well, those drones cannot fly for hours and hours like that can they? I know someone that has a very professional camera setup and it can only fly about 20 minutes at a time :abnormal:[/QUOTE]

Was reported on the news to have been seen again at about 12 noon today.

[Mike Sanders]

There is a rumour that several drones are being operated, or possibly the same one flown after its batteries have been changed. The intention is obviously to cause as much disruption as possible.

I hope that the perpetrator is caught and gets a lengthy prison term.

[Grumpy]

Time will tell but in many cases 'eye witness' reports of incidents like this turn out to be completely unreliable. While the original sighting may (possibly) be genuine you very often then get many people reporting drone sightings that in reality might be birds or figments of the imagination.

So i'd not read too much into these reports of multiple drones or drones reappearing throughout the day. Strange thing in this day and age when everyone has a smart phone with HD video capability, and the police are crawling all over the airport, no one gets a video or even a photo:rolleyes: very good chance it's just hysteria.. But the end result is the same in any case, the airport gets closed.

i wonder if they close the airport every time a bird is spotted flying by?

[bigpops]

The lack of good footage is quite strange. While HD phone cameras aren't that great at distance, if there's one place people are likely to have their SLR cameras o proper video cameras, it's at an airport. Even more likely when there's nothing else to do but find out what the hell is going on.

[Grumpy]

[QUOTE=bigpops;1230092]The lack of good footage is quite strange. [/QUOTE]

Is there even 'any' footage, even a distant spec in the sky type footage? Or failing that any corroborated 1st hand reports from anyone who claims to have seen them? This is an airport swamped with people that is apparently being regularly overflown by multiple large industrial drones. It just doesnt have the ring of truth to me.

[bigpops]

I've seen both day time footage, and night time footage from last night.

The Daily Mail have the day time footage, and I saw the night time footage (shot from inside a car) on Twitter last night. If I can find the latter, I'll link it. I refuse to link to the daily mail.

EDIT: It was shot from a plane on the ground rather than a car. My mistake: [url]https://twitter.com/edwilde/status/1075555700452061184[/url]

[Grumpy]

Found it on the Daily mail web site... its not a great clip but yes, it's a drone alright. Just looks like a generic mid range 'DJI Phantom type' drone though, not anything 'industrial' as was being reported elsewhere.

[URL]https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6513923/Chaos-Gatwick-drone-spotted-near-airport-SHUTS-runway.html[/URL]

Oh well, unfortunately it does look like there is some truth in it.... bummer.

[Stuart]

It astounds me.... in this day and age it isn't rocket science on how to catch it or simply follow it to the owner would be better.....

[Grumpy]

[QUOTE=Stuart;1230096]It astounds me.... in this day and age it isn't rocket science on how to catch it or simply follow it to the owner would be better.....[/QUOTE]
Difficult to follow it when it's flying over buildings, walls and fences etc. You could follow it with a 'real' helicopter but by the time you have called one up and it 'scrambles' and gets there the drone is long gone. Same with catching it or shooting it down, it's all possible in theory but you have to have the equipment right there and ready in the exact place the drone appears.

So not so easy in practice.

[maddog7]

Tinfoil hat alerted!!

Something here has my tinfoil hat pinging like crazy.
So many people about and only ufo style shaky footage?
Big bright light on the night footage, removed or disabled to make it LESS visible in the daytime? Runtime with that thing blazing anyone?
Afaik most encrypted control/VTX RF would only manage 4 or so miles (unless it's military) and if it were analogue the authorities could simply grab a set of Fatsharks and follow it home to the perp.
Send up the police heli because of course that would be invulnerable to its rotors being hit by an "industrial" drone?
The real killer for me is that the authorities are apparently powerless to down them? We have drones that can massacre people in Afghanistan to pinpoint accuracy but we have no "anti drone" tech?
I'd have money on it that just about any decent FPV race pilot could take out an industrial or commercial drone within a couple of minutes by simply flying into it flat out.
This reeks of fake news to me.
I'm not sure what I'd be more concerned about, some idiot risking peoples lives in a sick publicity stunt or the minds behind trying to engineer a situation which looked that way.

D
:)

[trillian]

[QUOTE=Stuart;1230096]It astounds me.... in this day and age it isn't rocket science on how to catch it or simply follow it to the owner would be better.....[/QUOTE]

And it reminds me about in the old days how the BBC used to say they had vans that could detect a signal indicating someone has a television. I know they don't have those ads anymore as it's clearly laughable these days with millions of wifis and phone repeaters all over the place.

I find it crazy considering any single drone is not going to be in the air for hours at a time, so it has to land to change packs and it cannot do that on its own.

So, yeah it's very strange... whatever!