Gatwick Airport: Drone sightings cause delays

Just saw on the news that environmental protesters are under suspicion-Which is odd because I first thought of that, if it wasnt the government themselves trying to make a new news headline other than the constant flow of "look how fing incompetantly the government is dealing with brexit."

I would bet its the same people who tried to shut roads a few weeks ago-"Rebel for life"I think they are called-and they recently printed a letter signed by over a thousand scientists claiming they are going to do huuuge civil disobedience,to change our wholesale destruction of the planet.

One reason they may have chosen not to say "it was us" yet is that they dont want those thousand odd scientists to be arrested..

Think about it-you need sciencey types to build custom drones,with probable mobile(in cars)wifi hotspots(using a cell phone).
They could have set this up,and even be controlling the drones(cops think up to 4 different ones)from anywhere in the world,using a laptop and cell phone and some kind of encrypted signals to hide their ID.

Just my theory.

Oh and like I said,its suspected of being multiple drones-so not one drone in the sky for 14 hours-but a series of different drones over that time period.
Most likley taking off from different locations nearby,and maybe using spotters on the ground who report back to the drone pilots about police copters/airport status etc.

Seems pretty well planned to me-Thank goodness it wasn't a plot to deploy drones carrying nerve gas or biological weapons,because judging by the response of the authorities,something like that could have been beyond horrific.

Our authorities are way behind new tech-unless of course they want to spy on your internet use,and decide to arrest you for saying hurtful words on the internet--Then they are experts.

originally posted by: CanISpyIntoTheMystic
Any more photos?

You joined ATS just to ask that?

lmgtfy.com...

This is what I'm troubling to grasp, with the army helping and the authorities having all the decent kit 50 sightings of the drone and at no point do they ever observe it to descend to the ground. So no one is using high power binoculars during the day? At night not one person has any sort of thermal imaging camera or a decent night vision scope/binoculars? How can they have these sightings and still not a clue as to a rough location from where the drone is being launched

The idea of multiple drones is a good suggestion but would someone or some people go the lengths of doing that? The way I see it the more drones being launched the more chance of being spotted. Maybe like someone said they could be in a van. Launch the drone fly about, land it in the back of the van, drive to a new location .. repeat.

A recent update on the news that they are now considering shooting it

a reply to: Macenroe82

Ok I've looked at some articles and video and can't see a clear picture of the drone. Do you have a link to where you saw the drone in detail enough to know which kind it was?

Just took a screen shot from sky news app. Not sure why but these seems interesting

a reply to: ThePeaceMaker

That is interesting. Even more interesting that another poster has already said he identified what make and model it was.

a reply to: ThePeaceMaker

Hmm,bigger than the norm..I was thinking it was a few modded FPV drones-fast and small,controled through VR goggles.

Like you said-Someone should have got a picture by now if its big.

I'm not sure what they are classing as big it could be just made slightly larger maybe to hold a bigger battery or something. But if the screen shot is to go by anything the part that says it might be bigger than one someone can buy online intrigues me. Also if it's something little larger then it's not going to be a cheap piece of kit. The video that was filmed from inside of a plane was also interesting as it seemed to have a very bright light on it. Guess we just to see how it pans out

What would interest me if this story just dies out, like the drone is never spotted again and no one is arrested

The UK government has no clue what they're dealing with here which is why they've said 'drone' and then issued a media blackout to any and all speculation as to what it really is.

If it really was just a drone the tabloid websites like the daily mail would be asking if it was aliens or Russians, but as there is currently zero speculation as to what it is it's safe to say the UK has absolutely no idea.

a reply to: bates

UFO

Oddities. Earlier reporting, a chopper arrived and the drone 'disappeared'? 'Reappeared' after the chopper left. Then, no sightings for a while, airport says they will reopen, drone reappears again. Not 'drone dropped out of sight' or 'drone flew off'.

Emergency Govt security council meeting, military called in. No real reporting for hours, just a few opinion pieces. Whatever the hell is going on, I reckon this has been D noticed.

a reply to: teapot

Somebody's in-laws were coming for Christmas.

A man with a plan to keep them at bay.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: teapot

Somebody's in-laws were coming for Christmas.

A man with a plan to keep them at bay.

Phage.

You just gave me a great idea!

ONLY photo released, and this done by Pilot, not through official channels. The drone appears to be huge...resembling the tic tac thingys chased by Navy pilots....depending on the distance, of course....can't upload photos for some reason, but photo is in middle of story link attatched...www.dailystar.co.uk... el

All gone quiet today-Problem solved apparently.Airport open,drone countermeasures in place,drama over (!)

And the drone and pilot?

No one knows...

My Bro is flying from Gatwick today.
He hopes.

The whole episode is very strange IMO.

originally posted by: bates
The UK government has no clue what they're dealing with here which is why they've said 'drone' and then issued a media blackout to any and all speculation as to what it really is.

No they have not. There is no media blackout.

What there is is speculation as to whose drones they are. In an interview on the radio with the Transport Secretary (Chris Grayling) on the radio a couple of hours ago, he said that there were several lines on enquiry to establish who was controlling the drones, and that they were drones.

He also said that the military were involved, so read into that what you will. Probably more about sticking some fancy kit in the vicinity prevent drones from being a pest.

a reply to: UmbertoEcco

That looks huge to you? May I suggest that you go to Specsavers?

a reply to: teapot

No real reporting for hours, just a few opinion pieces. Whatever the hell is going on, I reckon this has been D noticed.

It's been all over the news endlessly.