Gatwick In The Shit

[Satchmo Distel]

Drone prank closes the airport until at least 7pm. The authorities seem to have had no contingency plan in place.

[Ray de Galles]

My family and I are due to be flying out of there for a two week holiday on Saturday morning. Currently wondering what my travel agent or I might be able to do if flights are still not leaving then and if my insurance covers me if I book an alternate holiday.

[Kevin S]

https://twitter.com/Verity_Holloway/status/1075746306851786752

[Kevin S]

Or if you want a more professional solution - look to Japan.

[tuckwat]

Extinction rebellion?

[Crusoe]

Alternative thread title, with apologies to 10cc:

I'm Unmannedy (Don't) Fly Me

[hobbes]

Shit, that's not good Ray. I hope you can get something sorted. This is what happens when you make idiot tech available to idiots.

[hobbes]

It's been going on long enough to not be a prank anymore, surely? These things only fly for 20 minutes at a go. So it would need a few of them or constant recharging.
And the amount of press there has been and the amount of disruption, if it was just kids messing about, surely they'd have stopped and be keeping their heads down in the hope they get away with it. Because hellfire is going to rain down on whoever it is if they're caught. And the longer it goes on, the smaller the chance of them not getting "accidentally" killed while being arrested. You don't shut down a country's second airport for more than a day without upsetting a lot of people in various security services who don't like being upset.

It's got to be some sort of protest group, presumably (although if it was you'd expect to see them hit Heathrow at the same time.)

[ad hoc]

Extinction rebellion?

Sounds plausible, but wouldn't they have said it was them already?

[Seven Saxon Kings]

It's been going on long enough to not be a prank anymore, surely? These things only fly for 20 minutes at a go. So it would need a few of them or constant recharging.
And the amount of press there has been and the amount of disruption, if it was just kids messing about, surely they'd have stopped and be keeping their heads down in the hope they get away with it. Because hellfire is going to rain down on whoever it is if they're caught. And the.longer it goes on, the smaller the chance of them not getting "accidentally" killed while being arrested.

Quite. Far beyond a prank, it's targeted, cruel and presumably deliberately timed to disproportionately affect people looking to see their family over Christmas or going on family holidays, as opposed to business travellers at a random time of the year who might be less emotionally hit by it.

[Seven Saxon Kings]

Sounds plausible, but wouldn't they have said it was them already?

They've already denied responsibility but some sort of environmental protest is feasible.

[Ray de Galles]

Shit, that's not good Ray. I hope you can get something sorted. This is what happens when you make idiot tech available to idiots.

Thanks. Hoping they'll not let it go on past this evening and have called the army in to sort it.

It's been going on long enough to not be a prank anymore, surely? These things only fly for 20 minutes at a go. So it would need a few of them or constant recharging.

As far as I can ascertain, it appears to be three separate incidents (two overnight and one around noon today) which could involve a short time in the air for all we know.

I'll not be watching 'Die Hard 2' tonight, that's for sure.

[caja-dglh]

Flying something around jet engines is not a prank at all. A bird strike can easily take out the engine on a plane, as can a drone.

[Patrick Thistle]

Whoever did this is going to get done under anti terror laws and be put away for a long time as a warning to others.

There's part of me that admires the non-lethal disruptive action. But then I'm not in Ray's shoes. If I was I would probably want whoever is doing this to end up with their head on a spike.

[adams house cat]

Quite astonishingly reckless. Tying up half?, third? of the country's air traffic, with knock on effects over western europe and, possibly, north america, in the pursuit of some half-assed prank or protest is, well, I'm speechless.

Good luck Ray. Hope they get it sorted and you can enjoy your holiday with the family.

[NickSTFU]

I hope it's a foreign nations' Intel service taking the piss.


Andorra or sum such.

[Satchmo Distel]

Apologies for calling it a prank. It's a reckless serious criminal action for which jail time is merited. Attempted murder maybe.

[caja-dglh]

You're fine Satchmo - I think it more reflects the way some media outlets are reporting the story. I am pretty sure the people involved haven't really thought the scenario through.

[adams house cat]

proving the element of intent required for attempted murder would be difficult Satchmo but I agree, incarceration is justified.

[SouthdownRebel]

An argument could be made for vaporizing Crawley as part of the hunt. It would save a great deal of future trouble.

[Eggchaser]

Sounds plausible, but wouldn't they have said it was them already?

Plane Stupid would be the obvious guess on this front?

[NickSTFU]

Following this on twitter, it appears every time they try to re-open the runways, the drones reappear.

Alien invasion by midgets I reckon.

[MsD]

Oh Gawd, my friend is booked to fly back to Toronto from LGW tomorrow morning. I thought it was sorted.

[Gert from the Well]

Could the government not recruit a crack team of clay pigeon shooters for such an eventuality? It would be effective, cheap (allowing a member of government to stand up in Parliament and say without embarrassment 'we have invested upwards of £299 to resolve this') and fit in nicely with the whole Brexit England stands alone Dad's Army bullshit.

[Janik]

That has been covered. This isn't a movie, you can't just shoot into the sky. Any stray bullets will come down somewhere, and that is dangerous. It isn't worth accidentally killing someone just to get air flights going again.