Drone Sighting Halts Departures at Heathrow Airport • Hacker News Board

Re: Drone Sighting Halts Departures at Heathrow Airport

#21

Post by maxxxxx » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 6:47 PM UTC

testplzignore wrote: post #6

> The airport said it had spent several million pounds to purchase the equipment. I feel like this is a problem some smart people could solve quickly if they were asked, similar to the healthcare.gov situation. Ask some MIT students to come up with a solution over a weekend and I bet they would deliver. Knocking a slow moving object out of the sky is literally not rocket science.

"Ask some MIT students to come up with a solution over a weekend and I bet they would deliver. Knocking a slow moving object out of the sky is literally not rocket science."

It gets a little more complicated in the real world if you don't want to shoot down the wrong flying objects and also not kill people on the ground.

Re: Drone Sighting Halts Departures at Heathrow Airport

#22

Post by eponeponepon » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 6:47 PM UTC

I kind of struggle to understand how there isn't enough equipment and electrical engineering expertise on site at a modern airport to pinpoint these drones really quickly - especially at Heathrow.

Even a small drone surely makes a ton of radio noise just from its motors, no?

Re: Drone Sighting Halts Departures at Heathrow Airport

#23

Post by peaktechisnow » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 6:47 PM UTC

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #16

pwaivers wrote: post #5

As the article says, it is surprising how easy and cheap it is to shut down a world-class airport and disrupt 100,000's of people. They haven't even caught the last person.

They made two arrests for Gatwick.

and then they released them

Re: Drone Sighting Halts Departures at Heathrow Airport

#24

Post by vorpalhex » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 6:47 PM UTC

porphyrogene wrote: post #15

pj_mukh wrote: post #10

Just as in Gatwick before this, the police and the airport are not able to produce even grainy footage of a drone that is supposedly "buzzing" the tower. Gatwick reported "67 sightings", but couldn't confirm if some (all?) were their own drones [1]. And now Parliament is tabling new powers for the police [2]. Was there ever any evidence presented that there was ever a drone present? Is there any evidence that this wa…

Does Heathrow bear a resposibility to prove anything to you or any other random person on the internet? You seem to be insinuating some conspiracy by asking vague questions.

Err, yes, yes they do if it's going to be used as justification to pass sweeping new police powers.

Re: Drone Sighting Halts Departures at Heathrow Airport

#25

Post by jonas21 » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 6:47 PM UTC

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #16

pwaivers wrote: post #5

As the article says, it is surprising how easy and cheap it is to shut down a world-class airport and disrupt 100,000's of people. They haven't even caught the last person.

They made two arrests for Gatwick.

The people who were arrested had nothing to do with it, and were released (after being subjected to 36 hours of questioning) [1].

[1] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/12/23/gatwick-drone-ar...

Re: Drone Sighting Halts Departures at Heathrow Airport

#26

Post by duaoebg » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 6:48 PM UTC

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #16

pwaivers wrote: post #5

As the article says, it is surprising how easy and cheap it is to shut down a world-class airport and disrupt 100,000's of people. They haven't even caught the last person.

They made two arrests for Gatwick.

Not sure if arresting innocent people is any kind of progress

Re: Drone Sighting Halts Departures at Heathrow Airport

#27

Post by quasse » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 6:48 PM UTC

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #16

pwaivers wrote: post #5

As the article says, it is surprising how easy and cheap it is to shut down a world-class airport and disrupt 100,000's of people. They haven't even caught the last person.

They made two arrests for Gatwick.

They arrested two people that they later admitted had nothing to do with the event in question. [1]

What counterpoint are you making here?

[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-sussex-46709353

Re: Drone Sighting Halts Departures at Heathrow Airport

#28

Post by Rebelgecko » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 6:48 PM UTC

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #16

pwaivers wrote: post #5

As the article says, it is surprising how easy and cheap it is to shut down a world-class airport and disrupt 100,000's of people. They haven't even caught the last person.

They made two arrests for Gatwick.

A couple was detained for 36 hours before being let go with no charges and an apology from the police.

Re: Drone Sighting Halts Departures at Heathrow Airport

#29

Post by eponeponepon » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 6:48 PM UTC

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #16

pwaivers wrote: post #5

As the article says, it is surprising how easy and cheap it is to shut down a world-class airport and disrupt 100,000's of people. They haven't even caught the last person.

They made two arrests for Gatwick.

For clarity, the two people arrested were released without charge.

Although not before the press had smeared their names and faces across the whole country.

Re: Drone Sighting Halts Departures at Heathrow Airport

#30

Post by red_admiral » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 6:48 PM UTC

testplzignore wrote: post #6

> The airport said it had spent several million pounds to purchase the equipment. I feel like this is a problem some smart people could solve quickly if they were asked, similar to the healthcare.gov situation. Ask some MIT students to come up with a solution over a weekend and I bet they would deliver. Knocking a slow moving object out of the sky is literally not rocket science.

The average shepherd-boy-with-a-slingshot from the past could probably find a practical solution to this particular problem.