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Gatwick drone incident


Peter Miller
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All this doesn't ring true to me. Closing a major airport ALL DAY. I'm struggling to believe that a drone operator can avoid detection all through the daylight hours. I could believe it during darkness but when they are already on alert and something appears several times and is not traced back to source????

Methinks we are not being told the full story

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Posted by stu knowles on 20/12/2018 16:24:31:

All this doesn't ring true to me. Closing a major airport ALL DAY. I'm struggling to believe that a drone operator can avoid detection all through the daylight hours. I could believe it during darkness but when they are already on alert and something appears several times and is not traced back to source????

Methinks we are not being told the full story

The tinternet is going crackers, false flag, distraction, plot to claim the airways, Santas not been blamed yet.

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It quite possibly is a distraction from something, but from what, I do not know, and maybe we never will.

Who is liable for any compensation or suchlike in this situation? Is it a blackmail plot?

I still reckon a sales pitch.

Drones made from components ordered directly from China. Never touched by human hands after landing on these shores. Built in a clean room. Abandoned if plod get near. No evidence or links to the operators.

Edited By Nigel R on 20/12/2018 16:54:59

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From the BMFA on Facebook...

"The BMFA has been asked to comment on the disruption caused by reports of drone incursions overnight at Gatwick Airport.

In the absence of the full details, we would not wish to speculate on the situation. However, the irresponsible actions are not helpful to us at a time when we are in the midst of ongoing negotiations with the Government on behalf of the model flying community.

All we can say with certainty is that it is impossible to legislate for idiots and the situation at Gatwick simply serves to demonstrate the difficulty in enforcing the law on those who deliberately choose to disregard it"

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Now the Army is called in to help. Hopefully it includes the SAS whom will soon catch the perpetrators and said specialist equipment is being deployed.

I am surprised that it is still going on and in my view, it's not the average joe doing this but bigger with deeper pockets? I have my suspicions but it's speculating and no place to be on here.

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Posted by supertigrefan on 20/12/2018 16:16:46:

Watch out, the PC police have arrived frown

No, I just wanted to point out that a knee-jerk reaction calling for state sponsored mutilation is OTT.

This forum does love a bit of hysteria! Anyway, I think that this is actually A GOOD THING. Why? Because maybe due to the economic disruption caused by the people doing this, the police will respond more vigorously to reported illegal flying, or at least be a bit more proactive in educating the beat officers. It's a maybe, and I don't hope for an immediate or long term effort but one can at least try to be a bit positive instead of panicking like a bunch of old fannies.

"They" are not going to take your aeroplanes away from you yet.

Edited By Chris Bott - Moderator on 20/12/2018 17:38:30

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Most unfortunately for us, those who many supposed in having a vested interest in curtailing aero modeling, have received a gift.

No need to exaggerate supposed events, or encourage a me to response.

Hopefully the individuals will be found, very quickly. Hopefully it will become apparent that the actions were prompted by some anti social values, totally unrelated to our hobby.

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Posted by Glyn44 on 20/12/2018 17:13:46:

Surely these devices return to the pilots position. Follow it, and bobs your uncle. Either by sight or using police UAV.

Am I being too simplistic here?

The pilots could be sitting anywhere in the world, operating it from the comfort of an ops room or their sofa. The difficult bit would probably be prepositioning the drones, but once you've done that there is no need to be nearby, especially if you have no expectation of recovering the drones themselves (which would certainly be the case if this were nation state sponsored)....

Edited By MattyB on 20/12/2018 17:39:08

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Folks this thread has great potential to head in the wrong direction. Please can we stay within the spirit of this forum.

According to the forum code of conduct I should have deleted a post above without warning.
For now, I've just altered the bad language.

Please make yourselves familiar with the CoC. I may not feel so lenient next time.
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Like Martin I am suspicious that no visual footage of the offending object is available for scrutiny by the authorities.The length of time the object is alleged to have been in the air would have surely afforded a good opportunity.

If indeed it was a drone, the length of time alone, in my view, precludes the type of idiot who has purchased one from Lidl and using it dangerously. It suggests a more committed professional who has the kit to sustain this longevity.

We could well do without this behaviour when our hobby has been under such close scrutiny of late.

I would not be in favour of banning 2.4g on the basis that it would be easier to shoot down a drone which was on 35meg, (Tongue in cheek!)

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