Tens of thousands of passengers at one of the UK’s busiest airports are facing major disruption after two drones were seen over the airfield.
Gatwick’s runway has been shut since Wednesday night, when the devices were seen flying over the perimeter fence.
The airport said 110,000 passengers on 760 flights were due to fly on Thursday.
Police were still hunting for the drone operator after another device was reported just before 07:00 GMT.
European air traffic management group Eurocontrol said the runway would remain closed until 11:00.
The shutdown started just after 21:00 GMT, when two drones were spotted flying “over the perimeter fence and into where the runway operates from”.
The runway briefly reopened at 03:01 but was closed again about 45 minutes later amid “a further sighting of drones”.
The “drone problem” has been getting worse each year and will continue to do so as ongoing technological improvement makes these aircraft as cheap as chips.
“Shooting” drones down in urban areas is obviously unsafe and tracking down operators appears to be singularly unsuccessful, but a solution must be found soon, before an airliner is brought down.
I can understand how people want to play with these things but they must surely be breaking some sort of law by doing it a certain distance close to an airport. Morons surely.
It is illegal to fly a drone within 1km of an airport or airfield boundary and flying above 400ft (120m) - which increases the risk of a collision with a manned aircraft - is also banned.
Endangering the safety of an aircraft is a criminal offence which can carry a prison sentence of five years.
The number of aircraft incidents involving drones has grown dramatically in the past few years. In 2013 there were zero incidents, compared to almost 100 last year.
It’s becoming a bigger problem every year, another thing is those laser pointers, several times they’ve nearly brought down small aircraft and helicopters locally. These people may be morons but they are dangerous ones.
I was watching that earlier.
It is illegal, but it the punishment severe enough? I feel so sorry for all those passengers, many young children on a quick day flight.
I’m not pulling the conspiracy theory card here but:- If the authorities wanted a complete ban on these things, would it be a good idea to get the average person onside by inconveniencing them. Then the general population would beg the authorities to ban them…Job done…Just saying…
In the case of Gatwick Airport, the drone(s) appear to be flying over the airport itself.
Why, then, can they not be shot down? Obviously, I’m not talking about AA guns as used in the war(!), but a marksman with a rifle. The drone would then fall within the airport boundary and not endanger any residential areas.
Another possibility is to ensure that all drones sold have a unique ID number printed on them or, better, incorporated in their electronics. This would be registered to the purchaser, along with their personal details which should be supported by personal ID such as driving licences, utility bills, etc.
When the drone(s) are then recovered, as above, the culprits can be traced and prosecuted - preferably harshly.
If the unique ID number printed is incorporated in a drone’s electronics then it should be able to be read remotely, i.e. in flight, before being “fried” … :cool2:
Oh what fun for the morons that own these things, you can bet now that this will be the start of a whole new fashion. Time to curb the sale of these contraptions methinks…
