Gatwick airport closed due to drone.

Just saw on the news, Gatwick Airport closed now for 10 hours already because of a deliberate disturbance using drone(s).

Drone(s) is/are zipping in and out of airspace.

It looks to be malicious and deliberate.

Why does this sound like a glitch in the Matrix? I could have sworn Gatwick had this issue before.

I thought airports had the same technology as the Secret Service to disable drones. Then again, maybe not. Budgets and everything.

Edit-

New form of terrorism. The lost capital alone from this stunt is like a terrorist attack.

This has become a worldwide problem. There's once incident I know of in which a drone hit an aircraft and damaged it too.

Take a look at this list: http://avherald.com/h?search_term=drone&opt=0&dosearch=1&search.x=0&search.y=0

Sometimes, people even use lasers to deliberately injure pilots.

http://avherald.com/h?search_term=laser&opt=7424&dosearch=1&search.x=46&search.y=12

Apart from the enthusiasts who fly them, does anyone else actually like these wretched things?

Last summer, Mrs TG and myself were sitting in our garden and a drone appeared and hovered over us.

It looked very menacing and made a lot of noise on a quiet afternoon, but worse, it obviously had a camera.

We had to go indoors until it lost interest.

All perfectly legal, but do we really have to put up with this lack of privacy?

Apart from the enthusiasts who fly them, does anyone else actually like these wretched things?

 

Last summer, Mrs TG and myself were sitting in our garden and a drone appeared and hovered over us.

 

It looked very menacing and made a lot of noise on a quiet afternoon, but worse, it obviously had a camera.

 

We had to go indoors until it lost interest.

 

All perfectly legal, but do we really have to put up with this lack of privacy?

Unfortunately, it's a classic case of technology progressing faster than legislation.

If there is a positive to be found, it's that a high profile case such as this, tends to speeds things up significantly.

There's always light at the end of the tunnel :-)

Just in case no one knows by now, they caught 'em. Sounds like it was a man and a woman.

They've now been released without charge, having had their faces on the front page of most of this morning's newspapers under the heading "morons" etc.

What a complete farce!

Unfortunately, it's a classic case of technology progressing faster than legislation.

 

If there is a positive to be found, it's that a high profile case such as this, tends to speeds things up significantly.

 

There's always light at the end of the tunnel :-)

Hope that does happen. Here's what I know about this in some other countries that do have laws concerning drone flight:

1. In a democratic country I've been to:

• Drones must be registered with the country's aviation authority. Expensive, bureaucratic and bribes need to be paid.
  
• If you are caught flying an un-registered drone, it's a serious criminal offense that carries a severe penalty.
  
• Drones can be flown anywhere except near airports and defense installations.
  
• There are no laws that explicitly talk about drones and privacy together. However, privacy is a guaranteed right. Hence, if someone decides to go legal against you for flying a drone close to them or their property then you are held guilty until proven innocent. The legal proceeding that follows is an expensive and time consuming process. Often, it eventually leads to an out-of-court monetary settlement.
  

2. In several non-democratic countries in one region I've been to, the following rules hold good:

• Drones must be registered with the country's aviation authority. Not bureaucratic, no bribes involved. Very expensive, however. And you have to pay every year.
  
• If you are caught flying an un-registered drone or someone else's drone, you are charged with treason and accordingly sentenced without any trial.
  
• Drones with cameras are prohibited from being flown by individuals unless:
  
  • You are a part of a registered organization that has paid for and obtained permission from the aviation authorities to fly a drone with a camera and record in an approved area during a specific period.
    
  • The footage will not violate anyone's privacy, i.e., it should not be possible to ID a person using the footage (this means you shouldn't be able to ID someone using footage of a house or an asset they own such as a car).
    
  • The footage is going to be used for the organization's commercial gains only.
    

   

  [*]Drones can only be flown in areas approved for drone flight. This info is given by means of a mobile app released by the country's aviation authority. Almost all residential areas are no fly zones for drones. Depending on where you live, it's usually a 1 to 2 hour drive to a spot where you can fly a drone. An exception can be made for organizations wanting to get footage for commercial purposes as I mentioned in the previous point.

  [*]Any violation of rules associated with drone-flying carries about a week's worth of jail time, at the least in addition to a hefty fine. If this happens, details of this incident are stamped in your passport.

In the former country, enforcement of their rules concerning drone flying rules is lax. The people of the country themselves hardly care about privacy. Which is why people usually fly them as they want and don't get into trouble.

In the latter country, drones are mostly flown by the very rich and affluent. They need not fear the authorities. I've seen a few relatively ordinary folks brave it and fly them but they make it a point to follow all the rules properly. The citizens there take privacy very seriously and have a particular interest in taking away others' peace of mind. And authorities love to enforce rules.

In both cases, legislation was brought in after complaints of privacy violation from citizens.

What do you guys think of these different sets of rules?

Just in case no one knows by now, they caught 'em. Sounds like it was a man and a woman.

Looks like they had the wrong people.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-46665615

This gets worse.

Not only were these people's faces plastered all over the newspapers this morning but the police are now saying there might not have been any drones over Gatwick in the first place!

You couldn't make it up...

The largest consumer drones currently can carry over twenty pounds. How long before one carrying a few pounds of C4 is laser guided into a bus or school or airplane.

Every advancement brings pitfalls. "The genius of Einstein leads to the horror of Hiroshima", Picasso.

......but the police are now saying there might not have been any drones over Gatwick in the first place!

 

You couldn't make it up...

How the police have come to this conclusion (if it was a police spokeperson making the claim - I havn't seen any info on this statement) is beyond me.

Several news programs showed video footage of a drone over the airport, taken by a passenger outside of the terminal, and they announced last night that they had recovered a damaged drone close to the airfield perimeter fence.

And whilst the police are getting some stick for 'wrongfully' arresting the two individuals one has to assume that they were acting on some form of intelligence or tip off...….

I read an Israeli company has got the contract for drone security now over Gatwick, maybe it was one of their people operating the drone/s lol.

Also I saw a video clip where a guy said it was easy to jam the signal on drones, he had done it a few years ago, surely they must have thought of doing that so why didn't they?

If it was a hoax why did they do that especially at Xmas, some are saying it was a technical glitch with something at Gatwick airport and they were using that as an excuse.

Also the photo of the drone must have been taken with one of those cameras they use to take pictures of flying saucers lol.

...

Also I saw a video clip where a guy said it was easy to jam the signal on drone....

Very simple. Drones are controlled on various channels between roughly 1gHz-6gHz; all it takes is a small transmitter/antenna to generate a few mW of power on the proper band, it doesn't need any control pulses, just the basic carrier frequency. This will blanket the signal from the actual controller.

You can buy these numerous places online, prices range from a couple of hundred dollars to several thousand dollars, the more expensive ones are easily tunable to different bands and have more power, thus longer range. For those so inclined there are plans for building your own. If you have a well stocked electronics lab you probably have a signal generator, or sweep generator, capable of those frequencies; just hook an antenna to it instead of the connecting cable and it will work. (I've used the latter for years when neighbors became a bit ...exuberant... with their radios.)

But note - While purchase and ownership of such devices is legal, it is illegal to interfere with the transmission of any legal broadcast signal, whether a radio controlled toy or a TV station.

HAHAHAHA!!!

It gets better. For those of you that live in the U.S.. I often times listen to Coast To Coast AM. I used to listen on my trusty small AM radio, now I listen on my spy tap (Amazon Echo Dot) through iHeartRadio. Well, For those that don't know what Coast To Coast AM is. It's an alternative media station talking about UFOs, aliens, the paranormal and all this rot. Well, the host, Ian Punnett tonight said that the drones may have been "industrialized" or something and could be UFO's!

Coast To Coast is interesting at times and makes you think, but some of it, especially the callers who call in are bat sh*t crazy and full of absolute bull crap. But I like to keep an open mind on things and consider all possibilities. But I also make sure not to open my mind so much my brain doesn't fall out. LOL

Gustatus similis pullius.

I just saw this clip on YouTube, a French company Vinci has bought a 50.01% share in Gatwick:

It is very interesting in this day and age where damn near everything that happens is either captured on video or photographed, and yet these "drones" were never captured by these "eyewitnesses." So his personal beliefs in that video may hold some merit. And as the age old saying goes, money talks, BS walks. True for damn near everything out there.

Money is a big, BIG thing to us humans. Believe you me. Some people, no matter how bloody rich they are think they need more and more of it. Just look at Jeff Bozo. Fine company, provides a lot of good, (well not so much the pay scale for his employees). But how much profit does one need to amass? I believe it was a founding father of the Internet or some damn thing that said recently that the big tech companies like Google, Apple, Facebook, etc need to be split up. Kinda goes back to the Industrial Revolution with Carnegie, Rockefeller, Edison and all the rest. And the past repeats its self into the future.

...Some people, no matter how bloody rich they are think they need more and more of it. ....

People collect many things - stamps, cars, cats, whatever; at some point that collection becomes so vast other people are saying it is now an obsession. At what point does accumulating money become an obsession?

"The man who dies rich, dies disgraced."

Andrew Carnegie

People collect many things - stamps, cars, cats, whatever; at some point that collection becomes so vast other people are saying it is now an obsession. At what point does accumulating money become an obsession?

 

 

"The man who dies rich, dies disgraced."

Andrew Carnegie

I think there may be more to it than an obsession. I personally think it's related to the "power trip/status" psyche of the human mind. And I do believe money and power go together like a hot blonde in a cheerleader outfit. LOL! :D

"Look at me! I've been on the cover of Fortune magazine and Robb Report now for ten damn years!"

For me personally, I'd just be happy with a million or two. I just want a comfortable life. I'd interact with a financial planner, a CPA and a good lawyer and create investments so I'm never EVER poor again. But, money in of its self does create its own set of problems. You just need to know how to deal with those. Probably the biggest would be family and friends and so-called "friends" of all types coming out of the woodwork. Oh, such is life.

I guess I really don't have an obsession of any type. I could say flight simming, but it's not. Perhaps my obsession would be my quest to learn things I'm curios about and want to learn about them. I try hard to associate the facts I learn with other things so they'll stick in my aging brain. Well, I turn 40 in 2 years anyway. LOL My obsession for my quest in knowledge mostly encompass the computer realm.

Speaking about the rich and drones. I think with people having the cash you could easily have a drone built that could do all kinds of things. Like, make it look like a fanciful UFO for instance. They even have thermal cameras you can attach to a drone for complete night flying. If I had the money I'd love to have that setup. I do have a Seek thermal imager I bought that connects to my phone, and it's pretty sweet. Seeing the world as a heat source has a whole new dimension.

I do collect bottle caps, old matchbooks and kiddie airplane wings though! HAHAHA You should see my collection. But I wouldn't call it an obsession.

HAHA