Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Drones piloted by climate-change activists target Heathrow

economist.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 260 posts

Re: Drones piloted by climate-change activists target Heathrow

#41

Post by AnimalMuppet »

gok wrote: post #24
teachrdan wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because they're not terrorists. Terrorists use violence (and credible threats of violence) against civilians to achieve political ends. Instead, the activists here are disrupting air traffic using nonviolent means.

They are most certainly terrorists. How is "I'm going to blow up an airplane unless you don't fly it" different from "I'm going to fly a robot into an airplane, potentially causing loss of life unless you don't fly it"? How about "I'm going to aim blinding lasers at pilot flying a plane unless you don't fly the plane?"

"With advance warning, I'm going to fly a robot into an area where your rules will require you to not fly airplanes into the airport" is quite a bit weaker (note the absence of any actual threat to the airplanes).

Re: Drones piloted by climate-change activists target Heathrow

#42

Post by gok »

frereubu wrote: post #33
gok wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So they're just taking advantage of the current legal loophole that bombs and drones are treated differently, despite the fact that they can be similarly dangerous to airplanes?

You're being obtuse. The aim of a bomb is to destroy lives and property. The aim of this protest is to stop planes flying, and to do so by flagging what they're going to do weeks in advance. Just the fact that they're talking about a mass of drones might be enough to close Heathrow for the day. The fuss about the recent drone-that-wasn't shows that you may not even need to fly them for this to have an effect, and if…

I said "bomb threat", not bomb. A false bomb threat is a way to disrupt and annoy an adversary. Like a mass droning.

Re: Drones piloted by climate-change activists target Heathrow

#43

Post by shaftway »

dvtrn wrote: post #34
gok wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are most certainly terrorists. How is "I'm going to blow up an airplane unless you don't fly it" different from "I'm going to fly a robot into an airplane, potentially causing loss of life unless you don't fly it"? How about "I'm going to aim blinding lasers at pilot flying a plane unless you don't fly the plane?"

So you’re trying to make a point by positing the most extreme scenarios of what these people could do instead of what they’ve clearly stated they will do-anticipated actions that don’t come close to being the same thing as bombing airplanes or destroying physical infrastructure? Perhaps I missed reading statements where these people said they would fly an unmanned drone into a plane I feel like there should be a term…

If someone called in a bomb threat and said "I'm only going to blow up the areas between the runways; don't worry, there will be no loss of life or limb", I'm pretty sure that the response would be the same.

They are doing this because they know that the risk of danger is high enough that officials will shut down air traffic.

Re: Drones piloted by climate-change activists target Heathrow

#44

Post by inflatableDodo »

frereubu wrote: post #28
inflatableDodo wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That example is just the same kind of protest that Heathrow has contended with since being built though. It doesn't say anything about drones.

The article is unclear - but I think you've got the wrong end of the stick. The subhead in the Economist article doesn't say anything about drones either.

What impression do you think someone might receive from that byline should they have not been keeping track? Especially given the headlines from last year pointing the finger at eco-protestors before that random guy got arrested? For added comedy points, there has still been no evidence presented that there ever was a drone in that case, but our press still ran headlines about who the culprits were.

Re: Drones piloted by climate-change activists target Heathrow

#45

Post by dvtrn »

shaftway wrote: post #43
dvtrn wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you’re trying to make a point by positing the most extreme scenarios of what these people could do instead of what they’ve clearly stated they will do-anticipated actions that don’t come close to being the same thing as bombing airplanes or destroying physical infrastructure? Perhaps I missed reading statements where these people said they would fly an unmanned drone into a plane I feel like there should be a term…

If someone called in a bomb threat and said "I'm only going to blow up the areas between the runways; don't worry, there will be no loss of life or limb", I'm pretty sure that the response would be the same. They are doing this because they know that the risk of danger is high enough that officials will shut down air traffic.

Exactly. Forcing officials hands by diverting and disrupting normal aviation activity is the exact outcome this group wants. Not a loss of life. It seems that you understand this point quite well.

The response may or may not be the same if a bomb threat were called, but that’s not what happened and it seems you clearly understand this; I’m forced to then ask-why stretch the metaphor to the point of absurdity as you’ve done above?

Re: Drones piloted by climate-change activists target Heathrow

#46

Post by detaro »

gok wrote: post #35
detaro wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except they are not threatening to fly a drone into a plane.

So if LHR decides to let airplanes fly anyway, they'll stop flying the drones?

Or continue flying them in places where it's forbidden, but planes don't go. Which is not 100% without risk and would leave little time to react if they'd leave them (which is why flying there is forbidden), but very far from "intentionally flying a drone into a plane".

Re: Drones piloted by climate-change activists target Heathrow

#49

Post by TeMPOraL »

gok wrote: post #35
detaro wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except they are not threatening to fly a drone into a plane.

So if LHR decides to let airplanes fly anyway, they'll stop flying the drones?

Quite probably. They're not crazy. Not as crazy as LHR would be in this hypothetical situation.

Re: Drones piloted by climate-change activists target Heathrow

#50

Post by AnimalMuppet »

dvtrn wrote: post #45
shaftway wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone called in a bomb threat and said "I'm only going to blow up the areas between the runways; don't worry, there will be no loss of life or limb", I'm pretty sure that the response would be the same. They are doing this because they know that the risk of danger is high enough that officials will shut down air traffic.

Exactly. Forcing officials hands by diverting and disrupting normal aviation activity is the exact outcome this group wants. Not a loss of life. It seems that you understand this point quite well. The response may or may not be the same if a bomb threat were called, but that’s not what happened and it seems you clearly understand this; I’m forced to then ask-why stretch the metaphor to the point of absurdity as you’v…

Um, to me it looks like you're yelling at the wrong person. I think gok is the one with the bomb threat analogy, not shaftway.
Post reply on HN