Yet another bad news story for our hobby

[Davidwh]

Drone causes disruption at Gatwick airport - BBC News

 

[SRJ_Mavic_PRO]

Yet another "Blame everything on a drone" story! No proof, no pictures....

 

[FlashGJ]

Doesn’t matter if there was no pictures or proof, the media reports on how irresponsible we as drone pilots can be, the public eats up, and the road to even tighter restrictions is being paved.

 

[adiru]

Yet another "Blame everything on a drone" story! No proof, no pictures....

Yeah I wonder in the future how many unskilled pilots that screwed up or need a go around but don't want the company to go hard on them will use the drone excuse.

 

[Davidwh]

will the airports ground radar pick up something so small or is it more of a visual thing???

 

[Davidwh]

as I speak a so called expert live on the BBC news channel...can't wait for the papers tomorrow. This 'expert' claims that drones are about 1m in length!!!!!!!!

 

[gnirtS]

will the airports ground radar pick up something so small or is it more of a visual thing???

Its a visual thing. Contrary to the "no proof or pictures" comment above there is proof and pictures. The media have access to them as do the police.

Sadly though it just proves why there are restrictions in firmware and so on - people cant be trusted to act sensibly. There is always a small minority who'll do stupid things (see also the guy caught flying near the US wildfires).

 

[Chunter]

probably some dickhead trying out his unlocked mavic.....

 

[sonof40]

Doesn’t matter if there was no pictures or proof, the media reports on how irresponsible we as drone pilots can be, the public eats up, and the road to even tighter restrictions is being paved.

Yep, some here are experiencing discrimination for the first time.

 

[747P4]

will the airports ground radar pick up something so small or is it more of a visual thing???

Nope, not enough of a signature and other reasons.
Ground radar has a different frequency than other radar used in aviation.

 

[gnirtS]

Even if it did give enough of a return for primary radar or ground radar chances are it'd be filtered out as "birds" as part of declutter.
These will be visual and/or audible.

 

[Rick]

Why is it that some members think any report of a drone causing disruption to air traffic is not grave cause for concern and lay blame elsewhere? This story should be of serious concern to anyone in respect of both air travel safety and the future for drone hobbyists. Anyone with an axe to grind in the lobby to get drones banned would have a field day reading some of the reactions within this forum, confirming the irresponsibility of the few.

 

[geigy]

No need for radar if the bird has a video downlink or rc link going. Squack city.

 

[Stuart Wood]

as I speak a so called expert live on the BBC news channel...can't wait for the papers tomorrow. This 'expert' claims that drones are about 1m in length!!!!!!!!

Another one of those earlier reports from the U.K. states pilot said the UAV was about 2m wide, and there was two of them that were kept in constant visual contact from 500m! I would think something that big would show up on radar. I don't think MP vs 777 would be a fair fight, but something that big would be a different story.

 

[geigy]

2 meters? What the heck kind of drone is that. Seems more like a balloon than a drone.

 

[Stuart Wood]

2 meters? What the heck kind of drone is that. Seems more like a balloon than a drone.

UFO!

Plane in UK's first double-drone near-miss case - BBC News

 

[gnirtS]

Eye witness reports are notoriously unreliable.
A MP would certainly ground a plane while the turbine was checked for damage causing a large delay and expense even if it didnt cause any more of an incident. Anything solid going into an engine means that plane is grounded pending checks.#

Most "drone" sightings from commercial aircraft i treat as garbage. The things are so small and closure rate is so fast the chances of anyone seeing it and processing what they've seen to recognise something are remote and quite probably beyond human reaction time. Its a case of "i saw something, therefore drone" and its rarely questioned.

Its fashionable to blame anything these days on a drone. Idiots doing stupid things with them in areas they shouldnt be or flying dangerously don't help matters either - it just reinforces that view.

However, this case would appear different as there is photographic and video evidence of something.

 

[Drone Police]

It's not that far of a stretch. People are doing this and it unfortunately will continue. There was even a post here a couple of days ago of a video showing a drone very close to the airliner and its flight path.

 

[vimagreg]

Really tragic. If this state of things continue we'll soon face a serious accident and, potentially, the ban of our hobby. Very sad...

 

[danman999]

as I speak a so called expert live on the BBC news channel...can't wait for the papers tomorrow. This 'expert' claims that drones are about 1m in length!!!!!!!!

Some of them are!!!