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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
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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.
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…
Edit: it was a kestrel for those of you who are ornithologically inclined.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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
What counterpoint am I making? I thought that it was perfectly obvious - that they had caught the previous person(s). I had not heard that they released them - I kind of quit paying attention once they made the arrests.
Once the idea of alien UFOs became widespread, the number of reported cases rose. Once everybody has the idea that drones may be flying around airports, will people start misidentifying and reporting other phenomena as drones (causing chaos)?
> 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 problem is presumably making sure you don't damage anything else on the ground while you're at it, and proving that the everyone's satisfaction.
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?
Part of me wonders if this is a long term problem with solving - causing so much annoyance with so little effort - or if this is just a fad. Time will tell. One thing is for sure, it's very easy to cause a lot of harm. Much of our society relies on assuming people are good. Sabotaging infrastructure is as easy as loosening or cutting bolts on a bridge.
> Sabotaging infrastructure is as easy as loosening or cutting bolts on a bridge. The issue there is that someone has to walk up a bridge with tools and start loosening bolts. Drones are somewhat remote, in that they could hide in the bushes some distance away. And most of all, I can see drone operators thinking "it's fun" as they are not damaging or deliberately flying into planes. It's wrong of course, but in their…
I hope most countries will still try and be sensible about their drone laws. Mine isn't: you're required to register your drone and tell them a month ahead (!!!) where you're going to fly, even if it's in the dead middle of nowhere, which is why people ignore all of it.
The other thing is that drones are exceedingly hard to regulate because the barrier of entry to just building your own is becoming lower and lower.
Anyhow, enough of my rambling. It's really sad to see things take such a negative turn for everyone involved (both drone pilots and regular people).
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?
I would even say a skilled pilot with a trackable drone in communication with the tower could safely fly to investiage without a shutdown of the airport.
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…
I would say it’s less likely an intentional misinformation campaign to get new police powers, but even that is more likely than an intentional drone attack, again just my opinion.
It’s absolutely incumbent on the authorities to provide incontrovertible evidence of an illegal drone. The fact that they launched a bunch of their own drones in response is sheer lunacy.