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Gatwick drone incident


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Posted by Daithi O Buitigh on 23/12/2018 13:02:39:

What I'd like to know is what idiot released their details when they hadn't even been charged, vbrought to court or anything else

Could be any number of sources or even journos following police vehicles - one thing is for sure, though, and that is it would not have been released officially.

Pete

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Posted by supertigrefan on 23/12/2018 12:40:07:

Lets give the Police some credit here rather than focus on the media, they followed up a lead, reacted to it and decided that there was no case.

Media hype is nothing new, it's been there since it's inception and the public hunger for news (however distorted) is what has fed it ever since. Limit it and there is outcry over censorship and civil freedoms, allow it to flourish and there is criticism of manipulation and infringement. That's not going away anytime soon.

There's an interesting thread on Facebook started by Andy Ellison. The employer (John Allard) of the suspect who has been arrested has been posting saying that it cannot have been him as he was working on a site, miles away from Gatwick, with two more of his employees.

Also worrying is the fact that John Allard, as of this morning had not been contacted by the police despite HIM contacting THEM and asking them to get in touch He's convinced he is innocent and the police now seem to think (rather belatedly) the same.

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Posted by Adrian Smith 1 on 23/12/2018 12:45:24:

For the sake of even-handedness, the Sunday Mirror, Telegraph and Express all carried photos of original suspects, albeit with less extreme headlines.

Very true Adrian - and I do acknowledge that. But I felt the DM were particularly extreme in their wording, and leaving themselves open to possible legal action from the couple. At least the other papers used factual headlines like "Revealed - Gatwick drone suspects", or "Window fitter held over drone chaos".

And the DM - at least in the online version I skimmed through last night - seemed to be going out of their way to reveal, and illustrate, the couple's home address - pictures of their house etc.

Now I just want to make it clear I have no knowledge at all of this couple, but I think the treatment they've had in the press - or this particular subset of the press - is way beyond what could be considered reasonable.

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I am not condoning the actions of the press here but highlighting a point that could affect many. Most of the information about the couple released by the press came from the couples own facebook page. This is already in the public domain and can be used and shared by anyone at anytime and for any purpose. Be wary of what you put in social media as you can not control it use.

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I'm sorry for this guy and his wife.

In the meantime, The Sunday Times have today relayed the story of how a manager at EDF Energy told the Sun (their sister paper) how he'd seen a cyclist in his 30s frantically packing away 2 drones in a country lane a few miles from Gatwick on the same day the flights were grounded.

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Couple of things on this..

  1. Anybody watched the Navy series about HMS DUNCAN on Channel 5? Apparently this ship can track a tennis ball sized object at great speed from 5 miles or so........so why didn’t the military track this object and follow it to home ?
  2. Anybody the Christopher Jeffries case from Bristol a few years ago? For reasons I won’t divulge a paper news hack ( they are not really reporters, some of them), rang me up asking about him. I last knew him 40 years ago. So how did she get hold of my land line? Makes me sicksad
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You beat me to it cymaz. I was just about to say, the press treatment of this couple is like that of Christopher Jefferies, the landlord of Joanna Yeates, who was murdered in Bristol in 2010. Jefferies successfully bought prosecutions for libel against the Daily Mirror and the Sun. I guess this couple may want to pursue something similar.

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Posted by cymaz on 23/12/2018 13:51:29:

Couple of things on this..

  1. Anybody watched the Navy series about HMS DUNCAN on Channel 5? Apparently this ship can track a tennis ball sized object at great speed from 5 miles or so........so why didn’t the military track this object and follow it to home ?

Yes it's true, the Samson radar on the Type 45 Destroyer can supposedly track small objects at Mach 3 out to a lot more than 5 miles (and up into space). It seems odd that the authorities don't have some means of tracking a drone that can only do 30mph or so. I guess it was the 'pop up' nature of the target that defeated them.

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Many years ago I used to work with someone who was accused of a sexual offence. He was accused by a girl of 16 who couldn't be named for legal reasons but of course the man could be...And was..Named in the press, even though he was only being questioned, not charged with or found guilty of anything.

Turns out he never was charged. The police doubted the girl's story from the start and she eventually admitted she'd made it all up..... She'd missed a period and was too scared to tell her parents she might be pregnant so she just decided to get a car's registration number while it was stopped at traffic lights with a man driving and say she'd been raped.

In the end the whole thing cost the chap his marriage, his job and his house, even though the only thing he'd done was stop at a red traffic light.

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Posted by EvilC57 on 23/12/2018 14:07:08:
Posted by cymaz on 23/12/2018 13:51:29:

Couple of things on this..

  1. Anybody watched the Navy series about HMS DUNCAN on Channel 5? Apparently this ship can track a tennis ball sized object at great speed from 5 miles or so........so why didn’t the military track this object and follow it to home ?

Yes it's true, the Samson radar on the Type 45 Destroyer can supposedly track small objects at Mach 3 out to a lot more than 5 miles (and up into space). It seems odd that the authorities don't have some means of tracking a drone that can only do 30mph or so. I guess it was the 'pop up' nature of the target that defeated them.

Take a dirt big trailer to get HMS Duncan to Gatwick.

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Posted by cymaz on 23/12/2018 13:51:29:

Couple of things on this..

 

  1. Anybody watched the Navy series about HMS DUNCAN on Channel 5? Apparently this ship can track a tennis ball sized object at great speed from 5 miles or so........so why didn’t the military track this object and follow it to home ?

ship radar is designed for a very specific use. ie it tracks inbound threats and the information is passed to a gun that destroys the object. it has been used to protect land sites but I doubt it is a suitable system for a civilian airport in a highly populated area.

Edited By Phil 9 on 23/12/2018 15:27:21

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My big worry now is the damage to law abiding model flyers (drone or otherwise) and clubs means we are all now going to be tarred with the same brush. The good work of many clubs to foster understanding and allow co-operation of our great hobby with residents etc., could be swept aside by the senseless act at Gatwick. I do hope not. I just hope our image has not been tarnished to any great extent, but I do fear it's a PR disaster for us due to events being beyond our control.

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48 hours ago I posted that they should offer a reward for the (real ) culprits and now they have done so. Bit too late to save the chaos! If only they had done that on the first evening.......

The reward is said to be 50,000.

However this means that we must all fly in exemplary manner in future as the public will not be as tolerant after this. (and they were not very tolerant before)

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I see police are now saying they've recovered a crashed drone.

**LINK**

There's no indication if this is one of the drones involved or not.

Percy: One would hope that they would now be gearing up to put some kind of electronic fence around airports, but I wouldn't count on it. The current transport secretary appears to have been singularly inept in every post he's held, and installing suitable counter-measures will have to come out of the government purse (ie: our taxes!). The costs of the disruption at Gatwick so far will have been born by the airlines, insurers and travellers.

--

Pete

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