Drones Temporarily Shut Down Gatwick Airport

[AlphaAtlas]

The Guardian reports that at least one drone shut down Gatwick airport for a few hours. 91 arrivals and 64 departures have been canceled so far, and authorities say the disruption will have a "knock on" effect. The police claim they've found "persons of interest" related to the rogue drone, but it sounds like they're still trying to figure out the specifics of the attack, such as how many drones were involved. Authorities are also claiming they have drone countermeasures ready to deploy at other airports, if needed. We've covered a variety of anti-drone countermeasures before, including EMR guns, actual guns, and eagles trained to swipe drones from the sky, and New Atlas has a good writeup on some of the more modern techniques.

The media coverage I've seen mostly involves PO'd passengers standing around in Gatwick airport, so instead of watching that, check out a video of eagles taking down drones here.

Police are working on the theory there is more than one drone, although the last sighting was at around 10pm on Thursday. Speaking during the press conference in the last half an hour, Assistant chief constable Steve Barry said measures to tackle the threat include: "technical, sophisticated options to detect and mitigate drone incursions, all the way down to less sophisticated options - even shotguns would be available to officers should the opportunity present itself." He added: “In terms of motivation there is a whole spectrum of possibilities, from the really high end criminal behaviour all the way down to just individuals trying to be malicious.”

 

[DukenukemX]

I would just install razer sharp fan blades made out of metal and let the eagles try to crab it.

 

[[Spectre]]

This wasn't exactly a temporary shutdown...........it was quite a while in regards to ops. Lot's of people got bounced around.

 

[trparky]

I would just install razer sharp fan blades made out of metal and let the eagles try to crab it.

Gotta ruin it for everyone I see.

 

[horskh]

I have conflicting emotions about this news item. I'm ambivalent towards drone operation, but dismayed at their disruption of the airport. However, I think owning a drone-downing eagle would be AWESOME!!!111

 

[mord]

I would just install razer sharp fan blades made out of metal and let the eagles try to crab it.

Practical problems with that. The weight of the blades made of hard and non brittle metal would make most drones unable to fly.

Still, like video said they can put armor on the eagles.

 

[Daarken]

I saw a post of twitter by a guy saying.. Look at all these great shots I took at the Gatwick airport.
He had 4 photos posted that appeared to be from above the main terminal area (appeared to images from a drone).

 

[blackacidevil]

I saw a post of twitter by a guy saying.. Look at all these great shots I took at the Gatwick airport.
He had 4 photos posted that appeared to be from above the main terminal area (appeared to images from a drone).

I saw the same Twitter posts. Further down the comments...

 

[Twisted Kidney]

Just wait 'till people get to see how much a license and a flight transponder drive up the cost of what should be a simple hobby.

We just can't have nice things.

 

[mord]

Eagles are efficient, skilled, and dangerous predators. I'd say the larger breeds of eagles could fairly easily take down pretty big drones.

 

[katanaD]

This wasn't exactly a temporary shutdown...........it was quite a while in regards to ops. Lot's of people got bounced around.

yep,

and there is going to be some serious blow back to operating drones because of this.


it *could* be labeled an act of domestic terrorism.. and then treated as such

 

[ronin4740]

As someone who flies RC airplanes and drones I'd like to thank this asshat for all the new laws and regulations which will be passed by the US in the year to come.

 

[dgz]

yep,

and there is going to be some serious blow back to operating drones because of this.


it *could* be labeled an act of domestic terrorism.. and then treated as such

What is "domestic terrorism"?

 

[TheOne&OnlyZeke]

Honestly...they should find that or those asshat/s and throw the book at them
Fuckers
This affected travel for thousands of people.

 

[nubbin77]

I would just install razer sharp fan blades made out of metal and let the eagles try to crab it.

You would do that so you can fly your drone illegally in restricted airspace? WTF

 

[katanaD]

What is "domestic terrorism"?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_terrorism

 

[Sulphademus]

The British Army and/or police forces have snipers and crack shots, right?

 

[PeaKr]

How hard could it be to triangulate the radio signals back to the controllers. Or position drones in a perimeter as spy's with an on ground force ready to capture. These airport interlopers have to land sometime.

 

[c3k]

They should take a two track approach, after "hardening" airports with anti-drone TTP.

1. Criminal prosecution: some time away from society to review one's life choices. (Nothing extreme: 6 months to 3 years should cover it.)

2. Civil penalties: allow the airport authority, the airlines, and the passengers, to individually and severally sue the individual for recompense.

Finally, if the drone is used as a weapon (other than as a hazard), then treat it as a domestic attack/terrorism.

 

[iamjanco]

Interesting use of what some might consider an endangered species (depending on your pov). An airborne, attack pig that could take down drones, now that would be impressive.

Given what's spat out as news from the usual suspects nowadayz, we've obviously got enough of those to go around.

 

[lcpiper]

How hard could it be to triangulate the radio signals back to the controllers. Or position drones in a perimeter as spy's with an on ground force ready to capture. These airport interlopers have to land sometime.

Well, some drones are remotely controlled, but others are simply sent a target location or even per-programmed with a flight path, etc.

I mean, I would rather "fly" the damned thing myself, remotely, would be far more fun. But if my intentions were to shut down a target airport, as this may have been, I'd have loaded up a flight plan and the drone wouldn't have a receiver or respond to radio control at all.

 

[Ocellaris]

I honestly don’t see why they didn’t just get another large drone, then fly that drone into the offending drone and break them both. Even if they wasted $10K on trying that, it’s still way cheaper than a multi day airport shutdown.

Or they could have just shot it down with bird shot. Bird shot doesn’t travel far and they could have shot down the length of the runway so the pellets just fall onto the tarmac.

Either way, the incompetence of the airport and authorities in this situation is staggering.

 

[deaedius]

Eagles are efficient, skilled, and dangerous predators. I'd say the larger breeds of eagles could fairly easily take down pretty big drones.

The stork at the end... That would be a definition of a lessoned learned and hope that no one saw the mistake you made!

 

[lcpiper]

Interesting use of what some might consider an endangered species (depending on your pov). An airborne, attack pig that could take down drones, now that would be impressive.

Given what's spat out as news from the usual suspects nowadayz, we've obviously got enough of those to go around.

Actually I would be looking at attack drones. As soon as a threat is detected, launch and prosecute the target. strap a pair of shotguns on that sucker and when the target drone fills the screen let it have both barrels. Those pellets will do the job and they are very unlikely to cause any collateral damage. Send out a truck and a guy with a broom when the dirty deed is done.

Now some of you who fly your own drones might feel a little threatened by what seems like a cavalier attitude that results in the destruction of someone's private property. But I'd ask you, as a responsible drone operator, (small UAS or otherwise) would you fly your aircraft into restricted airspace?

Hell, considering what this cost the companies and individuals involved, pitch in a buy a guy another drone to replace the one you shoot down, once maybe. Just in case it was accidental and beyond the person's control. They could afford to do that because every flight effected is a hell of a lot more money than a small drone.

It's just good business

 

[dgz]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_terrorism

Thanks for the propaganda link lol

 

[Dead Parrot]

Considering the recent story involving a smashed in radar dome on a 737, I can see the Airport's point in the shutdown.

Wonder if some variation of sonar would work for drone detection around a fixed point? Seems to work fairly well for bats. Would get around the radar vs small plastic bits problem.

The tech is out of the bag on this one. Given the lousy security on most IoT crap, low cost network equip, etc, the chances of preventing folks from lifting any geo-fence restrictions on their drones is pretty low. And that's assuming the geo-fence was properly programed in the first place..

 

[daglesj]

I honestly don’t see why they didn’t just get another large drone, then fly that drone into the offending drone and break them both. Even if they wasted $10K on trying that, it’s still way cheaper than a multi day airport shutdown.

Or they could have just shot it down with bird shot. Bird shot doesn’t travel far and they could have shot down the length of the runway so the pellets just fall onto the tarmac.

Either way, the incompetence of the airport and authorities in this situation is staggering.

Well give them your number and next time you can sort out taking down a 2' square drone hovering at random in poor light, grey sky 'somewhere over 900 acres of space'.

 

[lcpiper]

Thanks for the propaganda link lol

Here's a better one;
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2009-title18/html/USCODE-2009-title18.htm

(5) the term “domestic terrorism” means activities that—
(A) involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State;

(B) appear to be intended—
(i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;
(ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or
(iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and

(C) occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.

 

[Exavior]

32 hours of delays because of fuckers with drones. Given the fact that dumb asses don't seem to want to get it through their heads where they can and can't fly drones, I say a bullet between the eyes to these type of people should start making a point. This is England for this case and so we need a different method, so I say the old fashion quartering then.

 

[Ocellaris]

Well give them your number and next time you can sort out taking down a 2' square drone hovering at random in poor light, grey sky 'somewhere over 900 acres of space'.

If people in the airport can take cell phone videos of the drone, it can be shot at fairly easily. This wasn't some Skunkworks stealth drone, it was a large drone and loud as hell.

 

[dgz]

Here's a better one;
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2009-title18/html/USCODE-2009-title18.htm

Exactly what I said

 

[Nebell]

As a drone owner, I find this hard to believe.
First, most drones can stay in the air for 15-25 minutes. After that, they either land at their location or fly back to home base (where the operator is). So if a bunch of soldiers can't follow where the drone is flying, then /facepalm. If it just lands where it is, damn, those guys have money to burn since they have kept the airport locked down for 2 days!
Maybe, maybe the government is doing this themselves to have it easier to push anti-drone law.
It's just hard to believe that they can't find the operator. I flew over a junkyard with my drone, the owner found me within 10 minutes, and I wasn't even near it. Not that I did anything illegal, he was just paranoid because the police already visited him since he had illegal stuff.

 

[steakman1971]

As a drone owner, I find this hard to believe.
First, most drones can stay in the air for 15-25 minutes. After that, they either land at their location or fly back to home base (where the operator is). So if a bunch of soldiers can't follow where the drone is flying, then /facepalm. If it just lands where it is, damn, those guys have money to burn since they have kept the airport locked down for 2 days!
Maybe, maybe the government is doing this themselves to have it easier to push anti-drone law.
It's just hard to believe that they can't find the operator. I flew over a junkyard with my drone, the owner found me within 10 minutes, and I wasn't even near it. Not that I did anything illegal, he was just paranoid because the police already visited him since he had illegal stuff.

I have a cheap drone (got it from an auction for about $100 - retail price was about $250 I think) - I get about 10 minutes flight time with my battery. I've only flown it a handful of times - softball fields work pretty well for me. Mine also doesn't have a lot of range - I haven't let it fly out of eye sight yet.
So in my case, I'd be easy to spot.

 

[DukenukemX]

You would do that so you can fly your drone illegally in restricted airspace? WTF

I would do that because I know those eagles they train to attack drones probably cost more than a new car.

 

[nimer]

when the fuck did it become legal to own Bald Eagles ? I didnt know they existed outside of north america to be honest. Or of course that eagle shown at 0:53 might not be in fact a Bald Eagle...

 

[DocNo]

it *could* be labeled an act of domestic terrorism.. and then treated as such

It should be. Some dumb ass ran one into a commercial airliner earlier this week. This stuff is not trivial.

 

[[Spectre]]

when the fuck did it become legal to own Bald Eagles ? I didnt know they existed outside of north america to be honest. Or of course that eagle shown at 0:53 might not be in fact a Bald Eagle...

Well, they are sea eagles and a number of them look sort of similar to juvenile bald eagles. Legal to own? There are rehab clinics that taken in injured, abandoned, and juveniles to rehab and use them for various outreach programs in the mean time.

 

[nimer]

Well, they are sea eagles and a number of them look sort of similar to juvenile bald eagles. Legal to own? There are rehab clinics that taken in injured, abandoned, and juveniles to rehab and use them for various outreach programs in the mean time.

Well aware of education/outreach programs for birds that for whatever reason cant be re-introduced to the wild. But i've never seen one used in a commercial capacity outside of the states and i'm certain they cannot be kept outside of a official capcity... That all aside the most realistic answer is likely the easy one the bird in picture is not infact a bald eagle exported from america to the netherlands to be trained in drone catching.

 

[daglesj]

If people in the airport can take cell phone videos of the drone, it can be shot at fairly easily. This wasn't some Skunkworks stealth drone, it was a large drone and loud as hell.

Oh yeah just 'shoot shit', that old solution.Never ever goes wrong that one.

But the fact is there wasnt hardly any footage of it and a drone can't stay aloft for more than 20 mins best.

This wasn't about a drone. Something else was going on that day.

 

[daglesj]

As a drone owner, I find this hard to believe.
First, most drones can stay in the air for 15-25 minutes. After that, they either land at their location or fly back to home base (where the operator is). So if a bunch of soldiers can't follow where the drone is flying, then /facepalm. If it just lands where it is, damn, those guys have money to burn since they have kept the airport locked down for 2 days!
Maybe, maybe the government is doing this themselves to have it easier to push anti-drone law.
It's just hard to believe that they can't find the operator. I flew over a junkyard with my drone, the owner found me within 10 minutes, and I wasn't even near it. Not that I did anything illegal, he was just paranoid because the police already visited him since he had illegal stuff.

Yeah this whole situation smells very fishy. There would have to have been 6 or more drones co-ordinated to create the situation that was claimed.

Maybe the Govt, needed some clear space to fly someone or something in or out.