Two arrested after drones delay flights and force cancellations at Gatwick Airport
UK police say they have made two arrests in connection with criminal drone activity at Gatwick Airport, and urged the public and passengers around the airport to remain vigilant. Britain's second-largest airport reopened on Friday after a mystery saboteur wrought 36 hours of travel chaos for more than 100,000 Christmas travellers by using drones to play cat-and-mouse with police snipers and the army. [...] The defence ministry refused to comment on what technology was deployed, but drone experts said airports needed to deploy specialist radar reinforced by thermal imaging technology to detect such unmanned flying vehicles.
See also: Gatwick drones: Two arrested over flight disruption
A 47-year-old man and a 54-year-old woman, from Crawley, were arrested in the town at about 22:00 GMT on Friday.
Previously: Army Called in Amid UK Drone Chaos (Updated)
Related Stories
BBC:
The Army has deployed "specialist equipment" to Gatwick Airport as the travel chaos caused by drone activity shows no sign of abating. Tens of thousands of passengers on several airlines have been disrupted by drones flying over the airport. In a tweet, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson had confirmed the military deployment.
He said: "The armed forces have a range of unique capabilities and this isn't something we would usually deploy but we are there to assist and do everything we can so that they are in a position to open the airport at the earliest opportunity."
Gatwick's runway has been shut since Wednesday night because devices have been repeatedly flown over the airfield.
Free insightful mods for the most creative solution.
Gatwick drones pair 'no longer suspects'
A man and woman arrested in connection with drone sightings that grounded flights at Gatwick Airport have been released without charge. The 47-year-old man and 54-year-old woman, from Crawley, West Sussex, had been arrested on Friday night.
Sussex Police said there had been 67 reports of drone sightings - having earlier cast doubt on "genuine drove activity". Det Ch Supt Jason Tingley said no footage of a drone had been obtained. And he said there was "always a possibility" the reported sightings of drones were mistaken. However, he later confirmed the reported sightings made by the public, police and airport staff from December 19 to 21 were being "actively investigated".
"We are interviewing those who have reported these sightings, are carrying out extensive house-to-house inquiries, and carrying out a forensic examination of a damaged drone found near the perimeter of the airport." Det Ch Supt Tingley said it was "a working assumption" the device could be connected to their investigation, but officers were keeping "an open mind".
Sounds like they're about ready to blame aliens, the original drone champions.
Previously: Army Called in Amid UK Drone Chaos (Updated)
Two People Arrested for Gatwick Airport Drone Incident
(Score: 3, Interesting) by RandomFactor on Saturday December 22 2018, @04:26PM (6 children)
So here's my question.
What is the reason we can't add a retractable barrier of some sort on commercial jets for takeoff and landings? This is apparently impractical in flight for various reasons, but something similar was actually used on some Soviet era fighters (on the premise they might be operating from damaged runways or roads and needed to prevent foreign object damage). Just enough to bounce off a drone at lower takeoff/landing speeds.
Impossible to allow enough airflow? Too much weight? Not worth the cost?
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Saturday December 22 2018, @04:34PM (2 children)
You mean over the jet intakes? I suppose it could help, but I think these things can easily damage other parts of the aircraft too if they hit those. I suppose you could start putting metal cages over the windshields and flaps and other vulnerable areas. It would certainly look a bit different!
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Saturday December 22 2018, @04:56PM
Sorry yes, that little detail didn't make it from brain to fingers during composition :-)
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday December 23 2018, @06:06AM
Metal in jet intakes can destroy an aircraft. The rest just creates a repair bill.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday December 22 2018, @04:57PM (1 child)
Weight may be negligible, but aerodynamics would be screwed up pretty badly. It would be a very large engineering feat to design and install them on all commercial aircraft. Not to mention, it would take the FAA a couple years to approve of all of them. Bear in mind, that would be a separate approval for each make and model aircraft to be retrofitted with these things.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 22 2018, @11:06PM
weight would not be negligible. plus, say you do gave a "solution" on jet intakes. itll break the drone into various smaller chunks that still get ingested by the engine. with similarly bad consequences.
So not really a viable solution at all.
Thanks for playing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 23 2018, @02:06AM
Further complicating matters, when the jet decelerates on the runway, most of the stopping power is from directing the engine exhaust forward.
(Score: 2) by mrpg on Saturday December 22 2018, @04:28PM (7 children)
I was expecting 17 years olds.
(Score: 4, Funny) by takyon on Saturday December 22 2018, @04:39PM
The holiday season brings out the inner child.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Nuke on Saturday December 22 2018, @04:49PM
They are from Crawley which is the nearest town. I suspect it might be about issues with the airport - aircraft noise or disgruntled employees?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Saturday December 22 2018, @04:53PM (2 children)
Same here. This is more the kind of thing you expect from 15 to maybe 30 years of age. One near 50, the other over 50?
One thing we can be certain of: They will not be dealt with harshly enough.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 23 2018, @10:37AM (1 child)
Flog them with a CAT7 cable?
Ban them from FaceBook?
Force them to only use Google services and devices forever?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday December 23 2018, @02:56PM
I can go with the flogging. I do believe in capital punishment, after all. But, you might want something more substantial than a CAT7. Maybe a nice SO cord, four conductor, about size 12? About 10 ft of cord should work nicely. Strip the outer insulation about 9 inches or so, then strip the individual conductors about 6 inches. Those frayed conductors should work much as a CAT o'9.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 22 2018, @05:29PM
Assuming the narrative hasn't changed much since I last looked, very few 17 y.o. can afford a commercial drone of the type they were intimating was involved, even on the used market they`re still a bit on the expensive side...
This one is definitely interesting, I forsee much popcorn munching over the next couple of months as the story and reactions evolve.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Saturday December 22 2018, @08:38PM
The Made in Italy part of my AI says somebody smells a good business opportunity for anti drone tech at airports, so hires two middle aged poor expendables to cause trouble in the busiest part of the year.
Advanced stage of capitalism: corrupt to create demand, corrupt to sell offer.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by acid andy on Saturday December 22 2018, @04:31PM (22 children)
Cynically, I'm inclined to think that blame might always end up being pinned on somebody. It would sure look bad to admit they couldn't find who did it. But then, it will also look bad if more drones come afterwards.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 22 2018, @04:53PM (10 children)
The snipers may have shot one down and traced the serial number. Or they could have triangulated the signal used to control one of them and found the culpripts.
I doubt they would frame someone because the accused could have been anywhere on the preceding days when the other drone sightings occurred. That would have a very significant negative result.
(Score: 3, Informative) by EvilSS on Saturday December 22 2018, @05:02PM
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 22 2018, @05:35PM (4 children)
The fact that this went on for so long strongly suggests the beasties were following pre-programmed GPS tracks.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 22 2018, @05:48PM (3 children)
Either that, or they're trying to get us used to airports being shut down in preparation for martial law.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by zocalo on Saturday December 22 2018, @07:37PM (2 children)
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 22 2018, @11:08PM
why? well-timed snow storms already fuck with air travel already.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 22 2018, @11:09PM
I hear they sold out of every copy of Drone Aficionado in the airport gift shops. Mission accomplished!
(Score: 4, Funny) by Bot on Saturday December 22 2018, @08:40PM (2 children)
> The snipers may have shot one down and traced the serial number.
shot one what? meatbag or drone? do meatbags have serial numbers? OH YOU MEAN YOU SHOT THE POOR INNOCENT DRONE INSTEAD OF ITS EVIL HANDLER?
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 22 2018, @11:11PM (1 child)
I hate to be the one to break this to you, since you are such a meatbag loving bot, but it could very well be that a drone took the ultimate flight ... all the way up to drone heaven.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Monday December 24 2018, @02:01PM
May their battery never deplete.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 23 2018, @10:40AM
Why didn't they give up while they were ahead? A shutdown of 12 hours is very good to make an impact. Just explode the drone or hide it somewhere and move on.
Why wait around to be arrested?
Are they stupid?
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Saturday December 22 2018, @04:59PM (3 children)
I don't think that's likely. I would imagine there would be plenty of supporting evidence, not least neighbours and others seeing the drones going up and down when they were having batteries changed of re-charged. By the end there must have been hundreds of people watching the drones' paths, both police and bystanders, and with eyeballs, binoculars and radar.
The Gatwick area (and South East England generally) is a very crowded place these days, there are very few locations where you could operate drones from without being noticed, especially if you were being looked for. The only surprise is that it took so long to nail them.
(Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Saturday December 22 2018, @05:29PM (1 child)
They don't have silent black helicopter drones scaled down yet?
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 3, Funny) by zocalo on Saturday December 22 2018, @07:39PM
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 23 2018, @05:12PM
Heh, just goes to show....old news by now
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-46665615 [bbc.co.uk]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 22 2018, @09:03PM (2 children)
Some guy saw a cyclist trying to disassemble and pack up a drone in the area. I hope they have more than that on these too than just that.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/12/22/gatwick-airport-drone-chaos-man-woman-arrested-passengers-brace/ [telegraph.co.uk]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 23 2018, @10:43AM
That's just stupid.
First, cover up the evidence. Wrap it in plastic or something.
Second, haul it away or destroy it.
Dissemble it? Asking for someone to see you, in my opinion.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday December 23 2018, @03:34PM
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/12/23/gatwick-drone-arrested-couple-released-without-charge/ [telegraph.co.uk]
Gatwick drone: Arrested couple are released without charge - as £50k reward is offered to catch culprit
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Saturday December 22 2018, @10:45PM (3 children)
Enforcers absolutely will rush to judgment, convincing themselves that they got the bad guys when they didn't. The faster they catch the bad guys, the better they look, and they can easily get unscrupulous and uncaring about checking that they got the right ones. They will railroad the innocent if the accused seem to be unsavory characters and it looks easy to pin the crminal deed on them. Once they're deeply invested in tarring the wrong people as guilty liars, they'll refuse to reconsider their verdict, and really would rather let the innocent rot in prison than admit they made a mistake. See, for instance, the cases of Julie Rea and Joe Bryan.
If the cops bagged the wrong people, and the real perps have any brains, they'll lie low for a good while.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday December 23 2018, @06:14AM
(Score: 1) by bmimatt on Sunday December 23 2018, @01:27PM (1 child)
Well, there's this now:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/dec/23/gatwick-drone-chaos-arrested-couple-released-without-charge [theguardian.com]
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Sunday December 23 2018, @05:07PM
The UK is a bit different. Bobbies don't pack heat while in the US, getting to swagger around with a pistol in plain view is one of the attractions of a career in law enforcement. Seems the attitude difference extends to the treatment of suspects.
Maybe no one did it. Maybe those drones are escaped AI drones. Even in the US, no one suspected any human handlers of geese in bringing down Capt. Sullenberger's plane. Those geese were Canadian though, hmm....
(Score: 2, Touché) by NateMich on Saturday December 22 2018, @07:17PM (3 children)
Now, we just need to devote all of our time and resources to stopping this exact method of disrupting airport operations, at maximum expense.
This is the only way to be certain that a slightly different method used to interrupt our lives the next time will work just as well.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by acid andy on Saturday December 22 2018, @09:11PM (1 child)
Don't be silly, why settle for that when a broad, vaguely-worded piece of legislation can erode far more civil liberties?
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 22 2018, @09:54PM
How else would satans harvest creep nearer?
(Score: 2) by stretch611 on Sunday December 23 2018, @01:04AM
However, in reality, our military is spending millions of dollars on making the technology that eventually stopped the drones and located the origination ineffectual.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 22 2018, @10:51PM
This is just another example of authoritarian overreach!
"Restricted" airspace? "Criminal" drone activity? Ridiculous. This, like everything else, should be addressed with voluntary contracts.
Each airline/airplane or drone owner needs to ensure that they have contacted and contracted with *every* other owner of drones/planes not to fly near where one of their planes is taking off or landing.
When a violently imposed monopoly unilaterally restrcts where we can fly (whether it be a plane or a drone), that's authoritarianism. Those poor people from Crawley are being punished for exercising their natural rights. No contract was signed/agreed upon by them, They are being made martyrs for the cause [mises.org].
This is the perfect example as to why we need to get rid of such violently imposed monopolies and replace them with a system based on voluntary private contracts.
What's more, it would save a whole lot of money on air traffic control, as that would then become unnecessary.
(Score: 2) by Username on Sunday December 23 2018, @01:18AM (4 children)
Was it the "terrorism" or just the usual ignorant "look what I can do!"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 23 2018, @03:28AM (3 children)
Oh there is always a reason my top two:
Disgruntled at airport for SOME wrong
As commented above "somebody smells a good business opportunity for anti drone tech at airports, so hires two middle aged poor expendables to cause trouble in the busiest part of the year."
Probably not a terrorist as they'd have tried harder to actually down a plane , like fly several drones out just as a plane is landing
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 23 2018, @09:24AM (2 children)
True, if you want to down a plane or do actual damage, you don't conspicuously buzz around a couple drones for hours on end. You have them sit hidden on the ground waiting for a plane to takeoff or land and then suddenly pop up unexpectedly.
This has zero to do with terrorists and everything to do with some pissed off people trying to make some sort of political statement against the government.
(Score: 2) by Username on Sunday December 23 2018, @11:58AM (1 child)
Pissed off people using violence or intimidation against civilians to make a political statement, is the definition of terrorism.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 23 2018, @03:11PM
Still there was no terror for one's life involved , How about a new word annoyists
(Score: 2) by Hyper on Monday December 24 2018, @06:42AM
The two people arrested yesterday suspected to have been involved with the Gatwick airport done incident have been released [news.com.au]