Gatwick airport shut down by drones

[Innula Zenovka]

The BBC reports that two people were arrested on Friday evening in connection with the incident, but the police aren't saying anything more at present : Arrests over Gatwick drones disruption.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

Today the New York Times has only slightly more information, adding that the arrested are a married couple that appear to be hobby drone enthusiasts. I guess authorities have also stressed that they're only suspects at this point and haven't been charged with anything.

 

[Ellie]

The arrests came after a witness said he saw a cyclist "frantically" packing away two drones away down a country lane near the airport. Paul Motts, 52, said he saw a man in his 30s wearing hi-vis clothing and crouching over a drone in a country lane near the West Sussex airport on Thursday. Mr Motts said the man had been trying to "get away as fast as he could" at the time Sussex Police combed the countryside to find the drone pilot. He told the Sun newspaper: "I was delivering a parcel and drove past a suspicious man in fluorescent cycling gear crouching over a large drone which was all lit up. It looked like he was packing the drones away. Two minutes later we turned around and came across him cycling away.
A hi-vis what?

 

[Innula Zenovka]

However, the couple being interviewed by the police are apparently a man aged 47 and a woman aged 54. Local pair quizzed over Gatwick drones

I'm a bit puzzled, since the police should either have charged them or released them by now, but there's no report of either having happened.

 

[Ellie]

However, the couple being interviewed by the police are apparently a man aged 47 and a woman aged 54. Local pair quizzed over Gatwick drones

I'm a bit puzzled, since the police should either have charged them or released them by now, but there's no report of either having happened.

Exactly! He's a polite English domestic terrorist wearing a hi-vis vest for easy identification?

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Exactly! He's a polite English domestic terrorist wearing a hi-vis vest for easy identification?

One of the gilets jaunes?

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Gatwick drones pair 'no longer suspects'

 

[Innula Zenovka]

And now it appears that there may not have been a drone at all, since at the moment the police have only eyewitness accounts rather than photographic evidence (though they have found a damaged drone near the airport boundary, which may have been part of the incident: Gatwick drones pair 'no longer suspects'

The couple, meanwhile, who were arrested and then released are very critical of how the police handled the investigation, at least as it relates to them:

Gatwick police: there may have been no drone after all (Evernote link because £wall)

ETA: Fixed link (I hope)

 

[Essence Lumin]

And now it appears that there may not have been a drone at all, since at the moment the police have only eyewitness accounts rather than photographic evidence (though they have found a damaged drone near the airport boundary, which may have been part of the incident: Gatwick drones pair 'no longer suspects'

The couple, meanwhile, who were arrested and then released are very critical of how the police handled the investigation, at least as it relates to them:

Gatwick police: there may have been no drone after all (Evernote link because £wall)

Your evernote link doesn't work at least for me. All I see is the headline.

How bizarre. They shut down the whole major airport for a long time and they didn't even see anything?

 

[Erich Templar]

Gatwick police: there may have been no drone after all (Evernote link because £wall)

That is going to be very embarrassing for somebody. And possibly expensive if someone (Gatwick?!) decides to sue

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Your evernote link doesn't work at least for me. All I see is the headline.

How bizarre. They shut down the whole major airport for a long time and they didn't even see anything?

Sorry about the link -- try this, please Gatwick police: there may have been no drone after all

As to their shutting down the airport, I don't see that anyone had any choice (or that the police can be criticised). I mean, if someone reports to airport security that they've seen a drone flying around the airport, presumably it's standard procedure to suspend landings and take-offs and call in the emergency services to investigate. And then people kept on reporting they'd seen one.

The police didn't say that there wasn't a drone -- and they have found a damaged one nearby. All they seem to have said is that, so far, they haven't found any evidence other than eyewitness accounts to confirm there was one. Though, come to think of it, that's maybe not surprising since all the CCTV cameras are presumably aimed at the buildings and runways rather than pointing up in the air.

 

[Ysanne]

Good job on creating a new witch, dear "journalists".
Just mention someone having, possibly, seen a drone somewhere and people start a panic while grabbing their torches and pitchforks like in the good old times.

Then accuse someone of having a "drone", arrest him for this only reason...

Are you not entertained!?

 

[Khamon]

Drone reports are the new bomb threats.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

Yeah enough people reported seeing drones that I'm pretty sure they were there, even if the damaged drone they actually found at the airport turns out not to specifically have been involved. It was one of those things that's technically correct, but so misleading that you question the wisdom of the police making the decision to actually say it.

 

[Myficals]

The police didn't say that there wasn't a drone -- and they have found a damaged one nearby. All they seem to have said is that, so far, they haven't found any evidence other than eyewitness accounts to confirm there was one. Though, come to think of it, that's maybe not surprising since all the CCTV cameras are presumably aimed at the buildings and runways rather than pointing up in the air.

To my ears at least, the whole "maybe there was no drone" thing sounds like blame shifting.

"Oh, I'm sorry we arrested and publically maligned an innocent couple. It wasn't our fault that we went off half cocked and didn't examine the circumstances around them before we locked them up for a day and half. It was that pesky public who got things wrong. You know I wouldn't be surprised if wasn't even a drone in the first place..."

 

[Ashiri]

I'm a bit confused now. I thought that the control tower had reported them. Is that false?

 

[Tigger]

This whole incident has been so utterly bizarre from the start I don't know what to think. The press on the other hand knew exactly what to think and may face legal action from the arrested couple.

The press ruins Christmas for former drone suspects | Roy Greenslade

 

[Innula Zenovka]

It looks to me as if the police officer who spoke to the media probably now regrets not choosing his words more carefully:

Detectives were examining a damaged drone for clues on Sunday night after they had to release two people who were exonerated over the incidents that have repeatedly brought Gatwick airport to a standstill.

Confusion deepened as a senior police officer in the case said it was “always a possibility that there may not have been any genuine drone activity in the first place”. DCS Jason Tingley added that although the damaged drone was a significant line of inquiry, wet weather could have washed away evidence. He also noted that there were no pictures or video of the drone incursions into the airspace around Gatwick . He said there was “no available footage and [officers] are relying on witness accounts”.

Tingley later clarified that police did believe the drone sightings were credible as there had been a large number of witnesses. “We are actively investigating sightings of drone activity at Gatwick airport following 67 reports from the evening of 19 December to 21 December from the public, passengers, police officers and staff at the airport,” he said.

Gatwick: suspects exonerated as confusion deepens over drone attack

Plus, I suspect, some elements of the media wanted a new twist in the story after the release of the only suspects in the case, and "there may not have been a drone at all" makes quite a good unexpected development.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

This whole incident has been so utterly bizarre from the start I don't know what to think. The press on the other hand knew exactly what to think and may face legal action from the arrested couple.

The press ruins Christmas for former drone suspects | Roy Greenslade

 

[Tigger]

It's very un-Piers Morgan like to offer an apology