[Tom Otley]

The inevitable happened…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-46803713

Flights have resumed.

We continue to work with the Met Police on reports of drones at Heathrow. We are working with Air Traffic Control and the Met Police, and have resumed departures out of Heathrow after a short suspension. We will continue to monitor this and apologise to anyone that were affected.

— Heathrow Airport (@HeathrowAirport) January 8, 2019

[capetonianm]

It was probably a plastic bag blowing in the wind’: Frustrated passengers take to social media to blast Heathrow drone chaos

[Seat62k]

Hope someone managed to get a photo of it this time… The Gatwick fiasco made the authorities look ridiculous

[Tom Otley]

There are reports that it was seen by the police.

I don’t think it’s terrorism-related (although presumably all of this must have alerted anyone with that mindset to the possibilities).

But if it’s someone protesting airport expansion, then it’s a very effective way of gaining attention (assuming they are then caught and there’s a trial etc…)

[Nogbad01]

I was caught up in it. Everyone had just boarded when the captain announced that a drone had been spotted.
We then waited about an hour before pushing back and joining a fairly long queue for the runway.

Could have been a lot worse.

Very strange to be sat on the tarmac at Heathrow with NOTHING moving!

[RobertBLondon]

I may be alone in this but I think there has been a massive overreaction to these drone sightings. Its particularly hard for all but the highly trained to be able to judge if the drones are actually anywhere near the flight-paths and in any case they are so small and light that aside from some minor damage to the aircraft and the incredibly unlikely severe engine damage that could result IF it managed to ‘thread the needle’ & get in an intake… even then would not down an aircraft.

So due to these very very unlikely possibilities they cease flying & cause massive cost to many many airlines & passengers… Its ridiculous risk aversion in my mind. There has been only one confirmed minor drone aircraft strike that I am aware of in Canada in October 2017. Another possible/probable one in December 2018 in Mexico. No other airfields have been in the press for shutting for hours due to drone sightings. Why are we being so jumpy & overcautious?

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Inquisitive

[Tom Otley]

I’m inclined to agree, but….

Unfortunately, for anyone wanting to cause a huge amount of disruption to an airport and 100,000s of the travelling public, they now know what to do.

No need anymore to chain temselves to machinery near a runway (London City) or block a tunnel on an approach road to Heathrow. Ineffective. Simply get hold of a drone of sufficient size, and fly it over the boundary fence.

For a terrorist, unable to get hold of ammunition (in the UK) and so restricted to knife attacks or driving a van at pedestrians, a drone must look like a remarakably good idea.

I hope I am never proved right on this (obviously).

But the 3-mile exclusion zone around ariports for drones is not practical in the case of all London airports. So….

[Swissdiver]

Why only in London? Surely this had to happen at other airports. How did the others deal with it?

[capetonianm]

My main concern about drones is that it is only a matter of time before one is used in a terrorist attack. Clearly minds more twisted and smarter than mine will have thought this through, so I am not giving out any ideas by saying that one could be used to drop a lethal substance onto a sports arena, for example.

I am not in favour of restricting personal freedoms until those freedoms negatively impact the right to a safe and peaceful environment for everybody, but I think that public and unlicensed use of drones steps over that boundary.

Has anyone yet been charged for the Gatwick drones, if they happened?

[MartynSinclair]

[quote quote=913890]Has anyone yet been charged for the Gatwick drones, if they happened?[/quote]

Equally to the point is their any physical evidence (even just a picture) of drones flying within the Gatwick and Heathrow perimeters? Surely either the police, airport authorities or even the army must have recorded something….

[capetonianm]

It has reached the heights of farce (dare I say French farce?) with the police apparently saying that some of the drones spotted may have been police drones. Maybe they should call in Inspector Clouseau.

If it weren’t so serious it would be laughable.

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Inquisitive

[Swissdiver]

It seems a solution is now in place: https://www.engadget.com/2020/01/14/heathrow-airport-anti-drone-system/.

[cwoodward]

In my view drones as such do not pose a significant problem to commercial aircraft when compared to bird strikes.

From memory aircraft in flight must be able to withstand the impact or ingestion in flight of a 3kg bird.
A bird of this size is a very solid mass whereas drones are lightweight and low mass and unlikely to cause any where near the damage of that caused by birds. In fact an above average size drone hitting an aircraft is unlikely to cause any damage at all.

Of course they are a major distraction to pilots,could feasibly be problematic if ingested and must certainly be discouraged however from what I have read and heard from pilot friends the chance of a domestic unarmed drone damaging or much the less downing a large commercial aircraft is infinitesimal if not impossible.

The gross overreaction to the presents of a drone near an airport, particularly in the UK has perhaps been caused because too many agencies with little or no knowledge of the risks become involved leading to huge overreaction and passenger delays.
This is perhaps understandable as the problem is a relatively new one and there is a lack of a firm regulatory procedure or one qualified body with oversight and administrative control with staff who are qualified to make on the spot decisions.

[Author]

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