I’ve been reading PPRuNe in the hope of finding out what happened, the contributors on that forum being mostly in aviation and therefore, you’d think, best informed on this. Yet nobody knows anything.

I believe that there have been sightings of drones and lazers around airports for some years, I was in a ‘plane taking off from Nairobi in 2016 that was flashed by a lazer. If it’s true that this is not a new problem, how come it suddenly became a major problem just a day or two before the busiest time of the year? I read on PPRuNe that sales of drone jammers have been disappointing but suddenly Gatwick and Heathrow have placed big orders. What political agenda does the Met Police have, or the Home Office, or the airports themselves, that this incident could serve?

Lastly, has anybody checked drone flying forums? If I had succeeded in bringing Gatwick to a halt I expect I would also be stupid or vain enough to want to boast about it to my online chums.

Lastly, has anybody checked drone flying forums? If I had succeeded in bringing Gatwick to a halt I expect I would also be stupid or vain enough to want to boast about it to my online chums.

The 2 working theories appeared to be Political Protest or Organised Crime, one would certainly shout about it, one would certainly not.

And a week later Gatwick is sold for billions.

Looking very much like Battle of Los Angeles to me. Maybe there was a minor drone incident initially, but after that people were looking and seeing what they thought they’d see.

It stopped as soon as the Police made an arrest. Ie) It stopped when people stopped expecting to see drones.

I’m sure there are other theories.

Lots of scope for additional confusion because the Police were flying anti-drone drones around.

“Police, supported by a range of partner agencies and working closely with Gatwick Airport, are currently examining relevant sightings by 115 witnesses – 93 from credible witnesses, people used to working in the busy airport environment, including a pilot, airport staff and police officers.

https://news.sky.com/story/some-gatwick-drone-sightings-may-have-been-police-drones-chief-constable-says-11593854

Well they are all being investigated but 93 credible witnesses to sightings is hard to explain as all mistakes. Some sightings have been dismissed but that doesn’t mean they was only 1.

It probably lends itself towards the theory that it was not the main target or was a diversion for something else as once the operation was complete they stopped flying before they were caught.

as for anti-drone drones the police would know when are where they were flying those so could cross reference false positive sightings and discount those.

When nearly every person carries a camera in their pocket and there is not a single photograph/video… makes you wonder.

Well they are all being investigated but 93 credible witnesses to sightings is hard to explain as all mistakes.

In which case ghosts and witches must exist.

But are there 93 credible witnesses? Do they all agree on how many rotors it had? Is there a consistent view on what type of drone it was? The fact that no details of the drone have been released suggests the different accounts do not match at all.

Plus it was seen at night in a heavily light polluted area. People seeing drones when their night vision was shot. Really?

Plus the strange lack of photographs. the place is crawling with plane spotters with expensive telephoto lenses. I’m sure loads of people go on holiday with decent lenses. Seems very suspicious to me nobody got a shot.

But yeah, I could be wrong, it’s just my pet theory, I’m sure everyone else has their own pet theory too.

And the Police had credible evidence against the two they arrested.
Pity they never thought to check their alibis before holding them in cells for two days.
Our Police are wonderful. Bent but wonderful.

I thought I read somewhwere that some of the credible wittnesses had seen a police drone or the police helicopter.

I reckon, there was never anything at all.

Didn’t the Tories push through £85 million in NHS cuts at the same time as the Drone story?….

You probably won’t be able to see a drone if you are wearing a tinfoil hat

When nearly every person carries a camera in their pocket and there is not a single photograph/video… makes you wonder.

Yep in their pockets, get that phone out and get a pic of the object flying quickly across the skyline. We could have the challenge to get a pic of a magpie in flight tomorrow vs how many you saw.

Yep in their pockets, get that phone out and get a pic of the object flying quickly across the skyline. We could have the challenge to get a pic of a magpie in flight tomorrow vs how many you saw.

+1. I’ve seen a few red squirrels while on my bike (sometimes even when stopped) but have never got close to taking a picture of one to prove it.
I do agree with the comment a bit earlier though, that it’s surprising that no plane spotters with high quality super long lenses got anything. Particularly after the story appeared in the press.

think planes spotters go home when flights are grounded

If I sold “Drone Jammers” and sales were disappointing, I guess I might consider doing something like this. (Assuming that I was prepared to break the law to make money of course)

Didn’t the Tories push through £85 million in NHS cuts at the same time as the Drone story?….

I think it was just a very useful opportunity blame the media for chasing the drones when they should have been pushing harder on that story.

What drones?

Didn’t the Tories push through £85 million in NHS cuts at the same time as the Drone story?….

https://www.bhiva.org/government-announces-plans-to-cut-public-health-budget-by-85-million

but its all ok TM has plans to save the NHS
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-46771200