The General Drone-Related Thread

droj said:
There should be an electronic answer. And it would have to be licensed.
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You are correct, in part.

This would have been the answer as soon as these things became "available" to the public. A formal registration and licencing regime for this new tech before they hit the retailers - with perhaps a comprehensive back ground check.

If such a system was introduced now, there are so many of these awful things around and a black market would appear. Someone intent on using a drone illegally, will and even if they were wholesale banned, there's enough of them around the place to be procured, second hand.

I liken it to gun control in the US - even if radical change happened there - there are so many bullets, guns etc in circulation that those intent on getting a gun, wouldn't have to work too hard to get one.
 
I meant electronic means of detection and override control of the device, if that's possible. The trouble with destruction is that you have no control over what the remains land on.

Nasty, buzzing anti-social things!
 
They are quite easy to scratch-build and the software is open source (as it should be) so no amount of rules and regulations will stop anyone with a screwdriver. But that is true of pretty much anything, it's not a problem of technology. I could disrupt an airport with a truck load of pigeons and a load of birdseed.

The problem with detection is that they operate on 2.4GHz, the same as WiFi. Every hotel, business and house in the area as well as the airport itself is riddled with WiFi, separating the drone signal from all the other signals is not an easy task.
 
sirch said:
They are quite easy to scratch-build and the software is open source (as it should be) so no amount of rules and regulations will stop anyone with a screwdriver. But that is true of pretty much anything, it's not a problem of technology. I could disrupt an airport with a truck load of pigeons and a load of birdseed.

The problem with detection is that they operate on 2.4GHz, the same as WiFi. Every hotel, business and house in the area as well as the airport itself is riddled with WiFi, separating the drone signal from all the other signals is not an easy task.
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The thing is they may not even be using 2.4ghz, I rather suspect that to avoid detection they may be flying waypoints, especially if this is a well organised group such as environmental activists.
 
The more you think about it the more it seems it must have been pretty well thought out and planned. They must have been taking off and landing from somewhere close to the airport but not easily observable. The drone must have been going out of sight between buildings to a recovery point, they would then need to move on to another hard to observe location and launch their next sortie. There may well have been a number of actors so it could take off from one place and land at another.
 
Well if they couldn't catch them while they were flying, they've got little hope now.
 
andythilo said:
Well if they couldn't catch them while they were flying, they've got little hope now.
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I'm afraid that is likely to be the case, it is the same with laser attacks on aircraft (as in Laser pens not Laser death rays :) ) We have had a number of those in our area, but there is very little chance of catching the culprits. Whilst there may be lots of complaining about the lack of planning to prevent this, and not being able to capture the operators, it isn't that easy if people want freedom to operate these things, or have access to many other potentially dangerous implements.

I dare say a poll of passengers stranded at Gatwick would be very much in favour of banning them, probably even from those who are carrying them in their luggage! It is a real shame as they have some real beneficial uses in many sectors, but as is so often the case, some people will always find a way to use them in a negative way. :(
 
Erty said:
. Also a police drone to track the illegal drone back to its source.
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This seems to me to be the best. Either “fighter” drones to shoot them down or better, as said, to film and follow them back to source.
 
Mr Badger said:
Only joking, it is Christmas after all.
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Bah! Humbug! :D

Mr Badger said:
does it make good sense to fly your children to Lapland to see Santa,
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Yes because they have to see the real fat b*****d not some clone :D

sirch said:
I doubt they will find them if they can avoid bragging about it on "social media". If the police had got the drone they might have got some forensics but they couldn't find them when they were somewhere near the Gatwick perimeter, it's got to be less likely now. Someone is in for a fun Christmas looking at thousands of hours of CCTV though
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The thing is this seems to have gone far beyond a prank by some Oik.
I suspect that they would have been caught by now, had it been. Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas some deliberate attempt at disruption and possibly ransom.
I won't say terrorism as its likely that they would have crashed it into a ( grounded? ) plane or two.

I hope I'm proved wrong and its just a couple of kids that need their legs slapping.
 
Cobra said:
Yes because they have to see the real fat b*****d not some clone :D
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And it's better than some fat bloke sneaking around in their bedrooms on the 24th...

Cobra said:
I hope I'm proved wrong and its just a couple of kids that need their legs slapping.
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As I said in #1325, it seems to me that to do it over such a sustained period needed a bit of planning, they would have been caught if they just kept launching and retrieving from the same place over 36 hours
 
sirch said:
As I said in #1325, it seems to me that to do it over such a sustained period needed a bit of planning, they would have been caught if they just kept launching and retrieving from the same place over 36 hours
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It's definite deliberate sabotage - whether politically (and I include animal right and climate change extremists in this) or just prank motivated remains to be seen.
 
sirch said:
And it's better than some fat bloke sneaking around in their bedrooms on the 24th...
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:D

sirch said:
As I said in #1325, it seems to me that to do it over such a sustained period needed a bit of planning,
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Agreed, and I would suggest beyond the applicability of some pranksters.
 
Cobra said:
Yes because they have to see the real fat b*****d not some clone :D
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You'll be telling me next that their parents have to take them there because someone has to break it to the fat little snowflakes that they can't have a pet unicorn for Christmas?! Not like the old days, when you were lucky to get a lump of coal and a tangerine and told to be thankful you'd not got rickets! ;)

Got any more of those humbugs? :D
 
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Mr Badger said:
You'll be telling me next that their parents have to take them there because someone has to break it to the fat little snowflakes that they can't have a pet unicorn for Christmas?! Not like the old days, when you were lucky to get a lump of coal and a tangerine and told to be thankful you'd not got rickets! ;)

Got any more of those humbugs? :D
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LOL :D
 
I don't think we'll ever hear the actual truth about this. Super weird how there was not one clear up close sighting of a drone. Just a blurry spec, that for all I know was filmed elsewhere.

I'm not a conspiracy theory nut to be fair, but so many equipped news crews, stranded passengers (and isn't there always at one per flight with a 70-200 lens bizarrely) and no decent footage over 27 hours of this drama. Sucks for the travellers :( Also goes to show a lot of people will believe whatever they're fed, with zero decent evidence.
 
db247 said:
I don't think we'll ever hear the actual truth about this. Super weird how there was not one clear up close sighting of a drone. Just a blurry spec, that for all I know was filmed elsewhere.

I'm not a conspiracy theory nut to be fair, but so many equipped news crews, stranded passengers (and isn't there always at one per flight with a 70-200 lens bizarrely) and no decent footage over 27 hours of this drama. Sucks for the travellers :( Also goes to show a lot of people will believe whatever they're fed, with zero decent evidence.
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Screenshot 2018-12-21 at 17.29.39.png
 
Oh FFS...

I have suggested they have some extra eyes on site. I'd happily take my TVR to a deserted runway and keep an eye out for a drone. Of course I'd travel at speed ... just so I could cover more area obviously
 
SFTPhotography said:
It's definite deliberate sabotage - whether politically (and I include animal right and climate change extremists in this) or just prank motivated remains to be seen.
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If the are, they should be taken to prison in a v12 car driven aggressively, then the only food they are allowed should be cooked with animal fat!!!
 
I'm told these things have a max flight time of about 30 mins, I'm also told they don't get much above 14 MPH, thats around 4 mins a mile. If the operator is 5 miles away as claimed in one report I saw the drone doesn't have anough time to get there and back, never mind loiter over the airport.I'm supprised they didn't just send up a police drone and follow it back to source/
 
simon ess said:
Well, I'm going to say it.

I'm not going the full tin foil but there's something not quite right about this. I've no idea what, just a feeling in my water, as the old saying goes.

Time will tell.
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I tend to agree with you. The only photo of the drone was not a clear shot at all, you`d think that the experts would of taken a clear image of it... But no :confused:
 
Some 92 incidents were recorded in 2017, according to analysis of UK Airprox Board (UKAB) data.
This is compared with 71 during the previous 12 months and 29 in 2015.
Former RAF and British Airways pilot Steve Landells, flight safety specialist at pilots' union Balpa, described the figures as "very worrying".
He believes the true extent of the problem could be even more severe as pilots struggle to see drones from cockpits.
"It's really hard to see something that small," he said.
"There's a possibility there are a lot more near misses that aren't being seen," he said.
"This could just be the tip of the iceberg."
Twenty-eight near misses in the past year were classified as having the most serious risk of a collision.
These included incidents near the London airports of Heathrow, Gatwick and London City, as well as Edinburgh, Manchester, Liverpool and Bristol.
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https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/03/19/drone-near-misses-triple-two-years/
 
All those reports and seemingly sweet FA done about it.

Am I missing something here?

A couple of times a week there is an incident that threatens damage to a multi million pound aircraft, or at worst, the death of hundreds of people.

Apparently.
 
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simon ess said:
Sorry Rick. I was editing my post to make my confusion clearer.
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There is a clear disconnect between Airports, Airlines and the regulatory bodies. The AOA have been pushing for tighter controls for some time, the last 2 Ops and Safety conferences I have attended have had Drones as a major topic.

https://www.aoa.org.uk/?s=drones

Unfortunately a lot of the content requires a log in to view.
 
swanseamale47 said:
I'm told these things have a max flight time of about 30 mins, I'm also told they don't get much above 14 MPH, thats around 4 mins a mile. If the operator is 5 miles away as claimed in one report I saw the drone doesn't have anough time to get there and back, never mind loiter over the airport.I'm supprised they didn't just send up a police drone and follow it back to source/
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No idea what kind of drone it was but the fastest drone in the world did 160mph+

The DJI phantom ready to fly ones do 50mph+ with 30mins fly time.
 
Byker28i said:
I'd happily take my TVR to a deserted runway and keep an eye out for a drone. Of course I'd travel at speed ... just so I could cover more area obviously
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So how is a broken-down TVR in the middle of the runway (not to mention littering the runway with all the bits that have fallen off it before it broke down!) going to help matters? :whistle: :exit:

I know, I ask too many questions. :D
 
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To those wanting more controls on drones, you do realise that these idiots will just ignore them - all it will do is penalise the normal person who abides by the current rules.

Perhaps we should have more controls on public photography as someone could be a p****???
 
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