Heathrow Flight Departures Halted. It's A Drone.

Flights out of Heathrow Airport have been halted.

Drone activity it would seem. Story is only just breaking. I think this is something more than just an idiot with a drone, after the Gatwick episode a few weeks ago.

Departures at Heathrow have been stopped after a drone was sighted, the airport says. A Heathrow spokeswoman said the airport was working with police to "prevent any threat to operational safety"

www.bbc.co.uk...

a reply to: alldaylong

Didn't this happen a week or so ago? And it wasn't a drone.

They didn't have a clue to what it was?

a reply to: grey580


Yes it did happen a few weeks ago, but at a different Airport ( Gatwick ).

No one has been caught after that incident.

a reply to: grey580

Different airport, also London though.

It was at least one drone.

a reply to: alldaylong

I agree. Groans for drones!

I think it is a new form of terrorism activity. I think the Gatwick drone activity may have been terror related and this possibly too. It is a way to sabotage commercial interests and civil activity. I expect this has cost an awful lot of money to try and police.

It's good there is new legislation coming related to drones. As I understand it they will be prohibited from certain places and users will have to declare themselves to the authorities - some kind of licensing?

The scope for use as a tool of terrorism is very wide. It just takes a little imagination. Imagine what they could do if they are weaponized!

Human beings, eh!!!

a reply to: alldaylong

Well this is one easy way without directly killing people for terrorists to disrupt the system...I'm sure someone on here will bring up situations where this could kill someone but I'm sure we will here from them soon....

Used to work in aviation, back ages ago. After 9/11, the industry would literally shut down over what would sometimes be considered silliness, but understandably so. This industry hasn't really recovered much since. Not too sure how folks over in the UK handle things, but over here even a suspicion of a drone would prove quite the panicked response - for much the same reasons touted above.

a reply to: RMFX1
Actually there were two drones spotted by multiple witnesses. But the thing was they were two police drones sent up to look for the non existent drone operator. There never was a drone in the first place. At Gatwick.

originally posted by: crayzeed
a reply to: RMFX1
Actually there were two drones spotted by multiple witnesses. But the thing was they were two police drones sent up to look for the non existent drone operator. There never was a drone in the first place. At Gatwick.

Huh? You mean the police were going nuts looking for the mysterious terrorist drone operator, and it was their own drones they were freaking out about?


Did the BBC release a new generation of Monty Python's Flying Circus, but forget to advertise it?

a reply to: crayzeed

What about the wrecked drone that they found? And the footage of the single drone taken from the ground?

a reply to: RMFX1
The wrecked drone was not involved as the police pointed out. And as the police admitted it was their drones in the sky, whether singular or together, was what the witnesses saw. The only incident that came near to the description on the day was a couple testing a RC helicopter that he was going to sell and that was nowhere near Gatwick's area. The police interviewed the couple and released them, no charge.

a reply to: alldaylong

Video of the " drone "

Heathrow has a anti-drone system. Looks like it don't work.

originally posted by: crayzeed
a reply to: RMFX1
The wrecked drone was not involved as the police pointed out. And as the police admitted it was their drones in the sky, whether singular or together, was what the witnesses saw. The only incident that came near to the description on the day was a couple testing a RC helicopter that he was going to sell and that was nowhere near Gatwick's area. The police interviewed the couple and released them, no charge.

The Police have clarified this. Some of the drone sightings at Gatwick by the witnesses were outside of the times that the police drones were operating.

The head of Sussex police has said he is absolutely certain a drone was flown over Gatwick airport, admitting that contradictory statements from other officers at his force “amplified the chaos” caused by the incident.

What you are referring to was the muddled statements by DCS Jason Tingley.

He said the officer who suggested otherwise “was trying to describe an investigative approach, that asks: ‘How can we prove the presence of the drone in the first place?’” He was then asked whether that uncertainty “amplified the chaos” surrounding the incident. “Certainly that was amplified at the time, but we have been able to corroborate 115 reports [since then], 92 of them are from credible people,” he said. “Of course, we will have launched our own Sussex police drones at the time with a view to investigate, with a view to engage, with a view to survey the area looking for the drone, so there could be some level of confusion there.”

So in reality not all the drone sightings were created by the police drones.

News Link

originally posted by: alldaylong
a reply to: alldaylong

Heathrow has a anti-drone system. Looks like it don't work.

That's odd if they have it installed and it's not functioning as it should. I have no idea what system they're using let alone understand it, but the equipment they've installed around Guernsey's prison (SkyFence) seems to be doing the trick;

The [UK] government could introduce an anti-drone system to stop drug smuggling in English prisons after a successful six-month experiment in Guernsey prompted ministers to consider a U-turn about the technology.

...SkyFence blocks radio signals around a prison whenever drones are detected.

The governor of Guernsey prison said it had worked “superbly” since it was installed in June. Dave Matthews told the Guardian that since the system was launched on 14 June, no drones had breached the prison’s perimeter and no devices had been damaged in the process.

Guardian Article

Personally I think all this is about licencing and restricting drone use and activity.

Please Mr Government save us from these nasty drones.....

I’m not a drone user and don’t really care one way or the other.

However I am around the perimeter roads of Heathrow quite a bit and I can say with certainty that it’s extremely heavily policed so a rogue drone.... sorry just don’t buy it.

MR

originally posted by: alldaylong
a reply to: alldaylong


Heathrow has a anti-drone system. Looks like it don't work.

Heathrow may have had drone detection equipment but not the capability to disrupt or disable drones. Heathrow was always very tight-lipped about what they had in place. It appears that they possibly only had detection equipment and that all it was capable of was an alert.

Since events in Gatwick both airports have announced that they will install upgraded systems.

Both Gatwick and Heathrow have announced that they will install anti-drone technology. The UK’s largest airports Gatwick and Heathrow have announced they will install anti-drone technology following last month’s incident at the former which affected thousands of passengers. Speaking to the Press Association, both airports confirmed they would invest millions in equipment to prevent future flight disruption.

News Link

Even though the new technology is being invested in it doesn't appear that it will have the option of the hard-kill laser that can be used by the Israeli Drone Dome system.

a reply to: Malak777

It's permission for commercial use rather than actual licensing. There's a size restriction coming in as well. Links here. www.abovetopsecret.com...

Draconian fines of up to a crippling £100 possible.

. . . fixed penalty notices (FPN) up to £100 for minor drone-related offences, “as a way to immediately and effectively enforce as a deterrent to offenders and to reduce pressure on Magistrates’ Courts”. A drone user could be slapped with an FPN for committing any of the following offences: Not producing registration documentation, and/or proof of registration for drones between 250g and up to and including 20kg in mass, at the request of a police constable Not producing evidence of any other relevant permissions required by legislation, for example if you are a commercial drone operator or have an exemption from the CAA from an ANO 2016 article Not complying with a police officer when instructed to land a drone Flying a drone without a valid acknowledgement of competency, or failure to provide evidence of meeting this competency requirement when requested

www.trustedreviews.com...