Drones ground flights at Gatwick

**Hugh** · 20-12-2018, 13:00

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-46623754

Quote:

Tens of thousands of passengers have been disrupted by drones flying over one of the UK's busiest airports.

Gatwick's runway has been shut since Wednesday night, when two devices were seen flying over the perimeter fence.

The airport said a drone had been spotted "in the last hour" and the runway would not open "until it was safe to do so".

About 110,000 passengers on 760 flights were due to fly on Thursday. Disruption could last "several days".

Those due to travel have been told to check the status of their flight, while Easyjet told its passengers not to go to Gatwick if their flights have been cancelled.

Gatwick Airport: Live updates
Sussex Police said it was not terror-related but a "deliberate act" of disruption.

Mr_love_monkey · 20-12-2018, 13:16

Wow.

Smart people out there.

denphone · 20-12-2018, 13:24

Sadly has been a problem which has been been worrying airport authorities and other authorities for a while and they need to start taking it far more seriously then they have up to now.

OLD BOY · 20-12-2018, 13:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by denphone

Sadly has been a problem which has been been worrying airport authorities and other authorities for a while and they need to start taking it far more seriously then they have up to now.

Agreed. The law is remarkably lax in this area. I have always had concerns about individuals being able to own drones. Only organisations should be permitted to do this, and under licence.

**Paul** · 20-12-2018, 14:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

Agreed. The law is remarkably lax in this area. I have always had concerns about individuals being able to own drones. Only organisations should be permitted to do this, and under licence.

Woooah, thats way too draconian, we are not a police state (yet).

(and no, I dont fly them, or have any interest in them).

heero_yuy · 20-12-2018, 14:43

There are already plenty of laws in place about endangering aircraft that can be applied with up to 5 years imprisonment for offenders. Such laws have already been used to prosecute loonies with laser pens.

Larger drones already have GPS fencing in their software that prevents them being used within 1 mile of an airport, though there are groups such as the pilots union that want this distance increased to 5 miles as is common on the continent.

Real problem is the smaller "toy" drones that have no restrictions in their software and can easilly fly out of range of their controller.

ianch99 · 20-12-2018, 15:55

Can the control frequencies be jammed I wonder? I guess they have thought of this ..

Uncle Peter · 20-12-2018, 16:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by ianch99

Can the control frequencies be jammed I wonder? I guess they have thought of this ..

If it's an industrial grade UAV then it could be flying autonomously with a pre-programmed flight plan.

What goes up must come down though.

**Hugh** · 20-12-2018, 16:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by ianch99

Can the control frequencies be jammed I wonder? I guess they have thought of this ..

Yes, but the drone owner can change the preset frequencies, or it could just be pre-programmed with way-points, so not need any linkage to the controller.

OLD BOY · 20-12-2018, 16:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul M

Woooah, thats way too draconian, we are not a police state (yet).

(and no, I dont fly them, or have any interest in them).

When you consider the many ways these machines can be misused and pose a deadly threat, I don't think it is draconian at all. We made do without them before, we can do so again.

This case is alerting us to how ill thought out this whole idea is.

denphone · 20-12-2018, 16:47

Military to be deployed at Gatwick.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...b02fb91ff06bf8

Quote:

The defence secretary, Gavin Williamson, has just told reporters the armed forces will be deployed at Gatwick although he has declined to specify in what capacity

Uncle Peter · 20-12-2018, 16:57

Even if the thing is being controlled in realtime, Baldock (Ofcom) have remote monitoring heads all over the place down there. If they can isolate the signal from the command unit then that presents a nice, juicy target for a bit of triangulation.

Those toy drones like the DJI Phantom operate on similar frequencies to wifi networks so you'd be lucky to get more than a mile or so range from them.

If this is a professional unit as the reports suggest then it'll probably be operating on the de-regulated short range device frequency allocation around 458MHz. Maximum legal output on that band is 100 milliwats which is more than enough for 5-10KM. You can even buy illegal radio units from those online Chinese junk marts which claim 20KM+ range.

Taf · 20-12-2018, 18:26

When I was a lad it was kites that caused problems for aircraft, Barry Island beach is on the approach flight path for Cardiff Wales Airport, and kites would often "invade" that space.

Now I see numerous drones of all sizes there.

---------- Post added at 18:26 ---------- Previous post was at 18:24 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by ianch99

Can the control frequencies be jammed I wonder? I guess they have thought of this ..

They don't bother trying to jam control frequeancies, they blast the internal circuitry with microwaves. I would have though all airports would have that facility by now.

**Paul** · 20-12-2018, 19:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

When you consider the many ways these machines can be misused and pose a deadly threat, I don't think it is draconian at all. We made do without them before, we can do so again.

This case is alerting us to how ill thought out this whole idea is.

You can misuse pretty much anything if you want, and we did without aeroplanes at one time, thats just a nonsense argument.

Hom3r · 20-12-2018, 19:33

Find out where the Signal's coming from, and send the SAS to kick the door it.