Gatwick Airport drone incident

[jon0844]

GTR has been playing announcements to let people travel to Luton for a flight if they have a ticket for Gatwick. I don't know how many flights have been moved to Luton, as it must be crazy out there.

Hearing the airport will be closed until 6am. This is quite unprecedented, although I am sure we could have predicted something like this would happen sooner or later. I am not just concerned about who is behind this, but what potential there will be for copycat incidents here and around the world.

 

[ModernRailways]

Reports now saying Gatwick is to remain closed for the foreseeable future and that passengers should not travel to the Airport.

RyanScare have been pretty good and have moved all their Gatwick flights to Stansted.

And yet this is all over a drone... Say I went to my nearest airport (Newcastle) and decided to fly my drone (I'd have to hack the software first) is that saying I can stop flights for hours. So with 8 people at 8 different UK airports (MAN, EDB, BHX, GLA, LHR, LGW, STN, BRS?) you could cause mass chaos.

 

[AM9]

I'm wondering what we're not being told (about the Gatwick situation)...

Plenty that you don't need to know anyway.

 

[Tim R-T-C]

Or a blackmailer perchance (my guess)?

Certainly could be. Someone waiting on a bitcoin account.

The 'pilot' might even just be a lackey who has been paid to release a drone which has preprogrammed coordinates.

The police might want to supress that info as Gatwick would likely be bombarded with copycat emails, making it harder to trace the culprit.

 

[Airline Man]

It does seem to be a very determined and 'professional' atttempt to disrupt Britain's second busiest airport at Christmas. They've got the Army and armed Police in and still can't find the drone or operator. I really wouldn't be surprised if Putin wasn't behind this. It fits in with a pattern.

 

[muz379]

Reports now saying Gatwick is to remain closed for the foreseeable future and that passengers should not travel to the Airport.

RyanScare have been pretty good and have moved all their Gatwick flights to Stansted.

And yet this is all over a drone... Say I went to my nearest airport (Newcastle) and decided to fly my drone (I'd have to hack the software first) is that saying I can stop flights for hours. So with 8 people at 8 different UK airports (MAN, EDB, BHX, GLA, LHR, LGW, STN, BRS?) you could cause mass chaos.

That certainly seems to be the case , although I am guessing it would depend on your drone and any way of identifying the location you would be controlling it from . This was always the problem for those shining laser pointers at aircraft . It was fairly easy to identify the origin of the beam .

If this drone is indeed flying to a set of preprogrammed gps coordinates or if there is more than one drone of the same type then I guess its harder to track down the person controlling(not in the direct sense) this activity today .

Anyhow I suggest that many other major airports will now be seriously reviewing their plans for incidents of this nature and investing in measures to prevent disruption this severe

 

[eastdyke]

Speaking of Gatwick - what are these 'Leaders' that are on Flight Radar https://www.flightradar24.com/51.15,-0.19/13

I would suggest that these are ground vehicles fitted with transponders so that their positions can be monitored by the control tower etc.
FIRE(X) - fire truck, LEADER(X) - ops vehicle, land rover or such, perhaps a 'follow me' vehicle,
ROVER(X) - perhaps airside security etc. etc.
Others will know more.
They seem rather busy just now.

 

[AM9]

I'm amazed signal jamming technology hasn't been used yet. ...

Because most drones use the ISM band for control and use coded digital commands. They are designed to have robust communications to prevent unauthorised interference and unless the manufacturers are forced to embody 'back-door defeat' facilities, those protected data channels will continue to work at levels of interference way above that which would be safe at a major airport. Even a military airport would struggle to accommodate levels that high and most of their safety systems are hardened against known threats.
Some twit in an interview TODAY was talking about jamming with EMP* which is likely to shut down a whole airport, possible inflicting permanent damage to installations and mobile devices. Forget all those cherished iPhonse, if the police lose their comms., they aren't going to apprehend many perpetrators!

* Electromagnetic pulse, - usually caused by a nuclear event. It can blow through any unprotected semiconductor based equipment rendering it useless. Modern nuclear theatre aircraft have protection designed-in at cost, - not so for civils.
Ironically, valve technology is relatively immune from EMP.

 

[Mag_seven]

When they catch the person responsible, they should be taken immediately to the airport and allow the thousands of delayed passengers to do what they will with them!

 

[Antman]

It does seem to be a very determined and 'professional' atttempt to disrupt Britain's second busiest airport at Christmas. They've got the Army and armed Police in and still can't find the drone or operator. I really wouldn't be surprised if Putin wasn't behind this. It fits in with a pattern.

Funnily enough that thought crossed my mind. Initially I thought it was some silly kids but clearly the whole thing is a bit more sophisticated than that.

Latest news is that further drone activity has been detected within the last hour.

 

[muz379]

When they catch the person responsible, they should be taken immediately to the airport and allow the thousands of delayed passengers to do what they will with them!

Surely if they catch the person responsible ?

 

[Jonny]

Surely if they catch the person responsible ?

If they haven't left the area, or even the country?!? Especially if they are foreign government agents. It's exactly the sort of asymmetric cheap, dirty trick that a foreign government would try to play. Especially if the stooge releasing the drone had no idea of where the airport was or if he was a long way away from the airport and he either had no proper controller or was given a dud.

 

[Bletchleyite]

If they haven't left the area, or even the country?!? Especially if they are foreign government agents. It's exactly the sort of asymmetric cheap, dirty trick that a foreign government would try to play.

Dare I suggest that there is one particular country that might be into doing that. Let's say they like a bit of Vodka and looking round Salisbury Cathedral?

 

[PHILIPE]

Failing Grayling's on the job now. On the News earlier this evening, he said that miscreants can expect long sentences but as a former Justice Minister, he should know that the maximum penalty is 5 years.

 

[al78]

It's nice to see that the season of goodwill to all has kicked in, isn't it? Oh, hang on...

Far better to direct one's ire towards the cockwombles who thought it a jolly jape to fly drones so close to Gatwick Airport

The problem they are having is that they can't find who it is that is flying the drones. The drones are remote controlled so tracking the individual responsible is tricky, they could be anywhere inside a square mile, or whatever the range of operation of the drone is.

I hope they do get caught, then all the affected passengers form an orderly queue to slap him/her in the face.

 

[43096]

Dare I suggest that there is one particular country that might be into doing that. Let's say they like a bit of Vodka and looking round Salisbury Cathedral?

Oh you mean, these...

Spoiler: image description

Image shows Daleks with caption we are not here to exterminate. we merely wish to visit ... Salisbury cathedral"

 

[Tim R-T-C]

Dare I suggest that there is one particular country that might be into doing that. Let's say they like a bit of Vodka and looking round Salisbury Cathedral?

I just can't see this to be honest.

The Salisbury incident and its comically "bad" cover-up was clearly an attempt by Putin to show how far his power projects and get revenge on a "traitor" to Russia.

Disrupting a passenger airport seems pointlessly petty for a Government sanctioned exercise.

But I wouldn't rule out Russian/East European pranksters, who have probably been behind most of the sinister hacks of recent years, have created most of the social media bot-nets and may be tacitly supported by Putin & Co.

 

[Jonny]

Also it seems that Russian activity is not the only threat to major airports:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-46639182
German airports on alert amid spying reports at Stuttgart
Germany's biggest airports are on alert after four suspected terrorists were spotted staking out Stuttgart airport, reports say.
Police are said to be hunting for a son and father from North Rhine-Westphalia and two others seen taking photos of the airport's terminal and grounds.
Details of the suspects were passed to German police by Morocco's secret service, reports say.
This comes a week after a terror attack across the border in France.
Three people were killed by Cherif Chekatt near a Christmas Market in Strasbourg, which is some 150km (93 miles) from Stuttgart.
Police told public broadcaster ARD that security forces were on alert at German airports, while Bild website said warnings had been extended to all 14 major hubs.
'Spying attempts' detected
Since the Strasbourg attack, suspicious activity had been spotted at both Stuttgart Airport and at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, public broadcaster SWR reported.
The father and son were captured on surveillance cameras taking photos around the airport, but had disappeared by the time police arrived.
The Stuttgart airport suspects' names as well as details of their communications were reportedly given to police by intelligence officials in Morocco.
German police would not confirm the reports, with spokesman Roman Strohmayer saying only "we have information that for the moment cannot yet be judged conclusively."
But, he told Bild website: "We have detected spying attempts at Stuttgart Airport and have massively tightened our security measures at the airport in cooperation with the state police. "
Germany was targeted just before Christmas in 2016, when Tunisian jihadist Anis Amri ploughed a lorry into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people and leaving dozens more wounded.

No evidence to connect them to Gatwick, but none the other way either.

===========

Disrupting a passenger airport seems pointlessly petty for a Government sanctioned exercise.

But I wouldn't rule out Russian/East European pranksters, who have probably been behind most of the sinister hacks of recent years, have created most of the social media bot-nets and may be tacitly supported by Putin & Co.

It seems a pretty high tech prank, it would be very hard to pull off unless it was either state-sponsored or someone in a foreign government was shielding the perpetrators.

 

[Antman]

Flights are now landing and taking off although that will change if the drones reappear.

 

[trash80]

Newspapers are suggesting "eco-warrior"s, though i would have thought they'd have wanted some publicity?

e.g. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/gatwick-airport-closed-lone-wolf-13761415

Gatwick Airport closed: Is "lone wolf" eco-warrior behind drone chaos?
Whitehall sources said police were investigating the possibility of a "lone wolf" eco-terrorist being behind the drone activity which is ruining Christmas travel plans for thousands

 

[Bantamzen]

Newspapers are suggesting "eco-warrior"s, though i would have thought they'd have wanted some publicity?

Its a possibility, but as suggested earlier the appearance of the Police, Army and the suggestion of a very long spell in prison was probably enough to dissuade them from breaking cover. I think the most likely possibility is someone with the ability doing so either through a grudge or as a hi-tech "prank". Either way I suspect they will have left some electronic fingerprint somewhere, either as an error or through sheer arrogance.

 

[MadCommuter]

If it's eco warriors, it will backfire. Causing this much disruption is not going to gain them support. Quite the reverse. I agree, it's either a grudge or someone showing off their misguided skills, much like a hacker. The person will be caught because they won't be able to keep their mouth shut.

 

[Tim R-T-C]

What I find curious is that there have been lots of near miss drone incidents near airports, several quoted on bbc news, but none have lead to such a shutdown before AFAIK.

Suggests to me they were aware of a threat.

 

[Clip]

I would suggest that these are ground vehicles fitted with transponders so that their positions can be monitored by the control tower etc.
FIRE(X) - fire truck, LEADER(X) - ops vehicle, land rover or such, perhaps a 'follow me' vehicle,
ROVER(X) - perhaps airside security etc. etc.
Others will know more.
They seem rather busy just now.

Yeah i thought it may be something like that but wanted confirmation so thanks

 

[spinba11]

It’s closed again.

 

[AM9]

If it's eco warriors, it will backfire. Causing this much disruption is not going to gain them support.

I'm not so sure about that. There are plenty of young people unhappy about the worsening prospects for the earth that rising CO2 levels are causing. It is after all the next 50 years that serious changes will occur and the majority of those in positions of power or influence over continuing the increase of CO2 creation will be long gone by then.

 

[MadCommuter]

So, who had yesterday off work, and finished at 5pm today?

 

[Bantamzen]

Assuming this is another drone incursion, perhaps a different approach is needed. Given that this is now causing millions of pounds worth of disruption, and given that those responsible will almost certainly be bragging about it somewhere, put a price on their head. A big reward for their arrest should be enough to tempt their peers to call them out.

 

[Jonny]

Given that this is not purely a UK problem, perhaps plane-based protective measures might be required?

(After all, other countries that planes visit might not have the facilities to detect drones before a collision)

 

[Darandio]

Open again.