To wonder about a few things with the LGW drone attack

[badlydrawnperson]

Before I get flamed (and not that anyone will resist flaming if they want to anyway). I know-

-It's not that easy
-Safety First
-People are doing their best

But I can't help wondering and idly speculating about why -

We apparently don't have any counter measures for this.
It can go on so long
We aren't seeing any News footage of the drone(s)

I am 100% NOT a conspiracy theorist but I am very curious about exactly what is going on.

but it is not an attack

OK then, I retract attack.

@Reallybadidea - drones have about an hour of battery life, less in cold weather. There have been reports of multiple drones seen. It sounds like either the drones have been modified and / or there are several being worked in rotation.

They could cause significant damage to the windscreens, fuselage skin (you only need one small breach to cause large cracks which can cause whole panels to shear off), or engines. Remember planes come into land at between 150-200mph. Throw a lump of plastic and metal at something moving at that speed and you have a problem. Birds can cause lots of damage, but organic matter tends to be softer than metal, and lacks the batteries and electronics which can cause sparks.

This is assuming that they're "just" drones, and haven't been rigged with anything such as fireworks or other explosives.

The lack of footage could be explained by it being dark when they were reported.

Tin foil hat on, they've heard chatter and it's almost the 30th anniversary of Pan Am 103, so are being extremely cautious.

I also think they are daft, stupid environmentalists or 'greens'

After all, they hate air travel don't they (well any form of transport for that matter), and the timing was deliberate to disrupt the busy Christmas getaway.

josiah
In the U.S there is now anti drone technology. They don't usually have this issue as they use strong radio waves to over power them
Link please
because any EM pluse strong enough to knock a drone out of the air will do massive harm to any electronics in the area
em pulse weapons are illegal under most arms treaties

The Police say there are convinced it's a deliberate act to disrupt Gatwick.

@Lockheart ok thanks that makes sense.

@Ta1kinpeace how do we know that it's not an attack?

I was speaking to a colleague this AM who works on military drones. He said they may struggle to bring them down safety as they don't know where they will come down and what they may be carrying. To shoot one down you have the risk of where live amunition will go & the shrapnel from the actual drone. Blocking technology does exist, but still they would still have to bring the drone down safety in a built up area.

The area police are searching is huge, and even though flight time is limited by the battery life, the batteries are relatively cheap and very easy to change and take 60 mins to charge.

Reallybadidea
Um because nothing was attacked ...... ????
Drones were seen near the perimeter fence
that is all
it is a major disruption
but not an attack

Lots of people on this thread have clearly never flown drones or researched them and the rules around flying them.

@Ta1kinpeace - Okay, so I am going on my friends in the U.S for that info so no bonafide proof, apologies

Personally, I think it's someone from the Heathrow third runway campaign...

Bbc news using the word attack

The only thing I feel sure of its that the main culprit (s) will turn out to be selfish twatting men. Thinking they are so clever. Well, drone people, if you are reading mumsnet - you're not clever, you're selfish and annoying.

Stealth
I know, I saw. And deeply irresponsible.
But TBH the BBC news reporting is so poor nowadays that I always cross check it.

I can understand not wanting to shoot them out of the sky but surely a water cannon would do the job nicely?

Does the UK have a stock of water cannons?

How would they get a water cannon (and massive bloody tank of water) airside at Gatwick?

How would a jet of water from a cannon have the range, height and accuracy to take out a small drone (or many drones) flying at speed?

Water cannon, we scrapped them remember...

@bibbidybobbidyboo - This made me giggle

Well I depends on your definition of attack I guess. I would class deliberate disruption of major infrastructure as an attack.

Fair enough. I thought it was a strange word for them to use but did assume accuracy

Can't they just us a zoom lens to get footage of it? I mean they can zoom in on the moon

I think there are some huge drones that can last hours.

There will be big calls to ban drones or licence them, but thing is that won't do anything as the people involved in this would disregard that anyway!

I can understand not wanting to shoot them out of the sky but surely a water cannon would do the job nicely?

These are more likely to be military grade drones flying at 10's of thousands of feet, rather than the sort you buy from Argos for £99.99

I suspect they've got into some terrorist cells have been planning to use drones. It could well be some idiot mucking about but why take the risk? I can't see how they can protect against this long term though, esp now the whole world knows how to ground flights.

I haven't seen a photo but what do people mean it's not a hobby drone? Because it's not something you buy from Argos?

My dads got one of these (see photo), I believe I can carry a dslr camera if he wanted so in theory it could also be rigged to carry all sorts but he doesn't, it's just a big boys toy.

Can't they just us a zoom lens to get footage of it? I mean they can zoom in on the moon
The moon does not move at high speed on an unpredictable course and then drop to the ground without warning.
The moon is also rather larger than a drone

• even the commercial ones are only around 75 cm across

Is it moving around alot then? They manage to use zoom lenses to film birds from miles away.

It's all fishy