Slashdot Mirror
Over 110,000 Passengers on 760 Flights Disrupted by Drones Flying Over One of the UK's Busiest Airports (bbc.com)
Gatwick's runway has been shut since Wednesday night, when two devices were seen flying over the perimeter fence. The airport said at about 12:00 GMT on Thursday a drone had been spotted "in the last hour" and the runway would not open "until it was safe to do so". From a report: About 110,000 passengers on 760 flights were due to fly on Thursday. Disruption could last "several days". Those due to travel have been told to check the status of their flight, while Easyjet told its passengers not to go to Gatwick if their flights have been cancelled. Sussex Police said it was not terror-related but a "deliberate act" of disruption, describing the drones as of "industrial specification". The shutdown started just after 21:00 GMT on Wednesday, when two drones were spotted flying "over the perimeter fence and into where the runway operates from". The runway briefly reopened at 03:01 but was closed again about 45 minutes later amid "a further sighting of drones".
Nobody gets injured, but you shut down the airport for fear of people being injured. If you use autonomous pre-programed GPS based drones, there isn't even necessarily a radio signal to trace back to the person who launched the drone, potentially from several miles away.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
My view of the average person combined with Occam's razor says this probably isn't a scheme by a nefarious group hellbent on destruction, and is more likely just some random asshole who thinks he's absolutely *hilarious*. You know, like those folks who shine lasers at airplanes.
if they can plant sleepers and train them as pilots and have them take over airplanes and fly them into things, they can probably manage a couple of drones ...
If the master race can steal explosives, manufacture a 7,000 pound bomb and detonate it next to a building, they can probably manage a couple of drones.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
You might want to learn what shotguns are and how they work before putting stupid comments like this on the internet. Here's a hint: Check the effective range of a shotgun and then check how high these drones are flying, and consider how large the airport is.
You'd have been less wrong if you'd said, "sounds like the Sussex Police force needs an AA battery".
Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
Safe up until a drone gets sucked into a passenger jet's engine, killing a couple hundred people when it crashes. All because some jackass doesn't have the common sense to avoid airports with his drone.
This is why we can't have nice things... idiots who can't be bothered to think about anyone except themselves. Especially assholes who are doing shit like this "for the lulz" like this incident appears to be.
THE SOFTWARE, IT NO WORKY!!!
... But even a well-aimed bullet should solve the problem. ...
It's impossible to consistently hit an erratically moving small target at range with a bullet. Phalanx CIWS systems do it with bursts of 20mm machine gun fire, and that would cause casualties if done over populated areas. Shotguns don't have the range. Air burst flak shells could work, but that would mean firing explosive munitions at low altitudes over a populated area.
My concern about using the eagles is the risk of injury to the eagles.
Directed energy is probably the best option.
Airports already have hunters to shoot and scare flocks of birds. Just let them hunt drones too.