Gatwick closed (mod note post 1)

theguzman

They could phone Trump to blackout the GPS over England for a while, if it was using GPS, it would veer of course and unable to find its way home it would run out of battery and crash.

dhaughton99

Gatwick COO said that last drone activity was at 9:00 tonight.

Jeff2

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Maybe I'm talking out my ass here, but when a drone is flying, it heats up. Surely one of those heaty-catchy-cameras they have on police helicopters would follow it handy enough to it's point of recharge?

What if the drone flies up and hits the helicopter propellers and takes it down.

Reati

Jeff2 wrote: »

To my knowledge no.
Not if they are on a preprogrammed root.

I think.

Good point actually, If they are using ground station plotted routes then jamming won’t work only the device to take control of them will them.

That said the way they are described to be moving is not a plotted route. One report I’ve read said the drone landed near the fence. If true that means there is a few of them on the go!

Hurrache

theguzman wrote: »

They could phone Trump to blackout the GPS over England for a while, if it was using GPS, it would veer of course and unable to find its way home it would run out of battery and crash.

Can you imagine absolute chaos if GPS/GLONASS was shut down for any amount of time?

Ninthlife

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Maybe I'm talking out my ass here, but when a drone is flying, it heats up. Surely one of those heaty-catchy-cameras they have on police helicopters would follow it handy enough to it's point of recharge?

I like that you used the correct scientific terminology when you said heaty catchy camera.

Good idea though

kippy

As has already been said, the longer this goes in the less believable the drone story becomes.

jasper100

vectorvictor wrote: »

Whatever the motive or back story to this is, it's a huge eye opener for what can be achieved with realitively low tech and cheap equipment.

Hopefully this is a prank or attention seeking gone too far but the capability to bring a major airport to it's knees so easily will surely be being watched by those with more sinister motives.

I would fear this is only the beginning of both this incident and copy cat's and can't help feeling this is a distraction for something else.

The level or vulnerability is quite unnerving really

Indeed. Its probable now that others will copy.

Reati

Deleted User wrote: »

Maybe I'm talking out my ass here, but when a drone is flying, it heats up. Surely one of those heaty-catchy-cameras they have on police helicopters would follow it handy enough to it's point of recharge?

You’re not actually. The batteries normally heat up in use to about 30 degrees. They work best at around that temperature. Flying in cold cold weather is actually a pain for that reason.

dhaughton99

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Maybe I'm talking out my ass here, but when a drone is flying, it heats up. Surely one of those heaty-catchy-cameras they have on police helicopters would follow it handy enough to it's point of recharge?

I’m surprised that localized radar or all the fancy equipment in an airport wouldn’t be able to pick this up and follow.

theguzman

Could it be a Russian drone attack? Perhaps a secret Hard-Brexit training exercise, as others have said something smells fishy.

Jeff2

Reati wrote: »

Good point actually, If they are using ground station plotted routes then jamming won’t work only the device to take control of them will them.

That said the way they are described to be moving is not a plotted route. One report I’ve read said the drone landed near the fence. If true that means there is a few of them on the go!

A programme can be run to go to x, y then random flying between x, y for what ever time on a PC.
So I guess it could be done here.

robinph

dhaughton99 wrote: »

I’m surprised that localized radar or all the fancy equipment in an airport wouldn’t be able to pick this up and follow.

Too small to be picked up by the airport radar I'd expect.

robinph

Reati wrote: »

That said the way they are described to be moving is not a plotted route. One report I’ve read said the drone landed near the fence. If true that means there is a few of them on the go!

If they have seen them land by the fence then it is pretty incompetent for the police not to have been able to pick it up, or to track whoever it was that came to collect it.

Hurrache

Don't know how true or not this is, but apparently this is the latest sighting
https://twitter.com/lord_splashy/status/1075868982899548162?s=19

Reati

robinph wrote: »

If they have seen them land by the fence then it is pretty incompetent for the police not to have been able to pick it up, or to track whoever it was that came to collect it.

Yup. If they are DJI drones p, then they store flight logs on the drone but... the gps modules have been disabled to get around GEO as otherwise it wouldn’t work there. So there would be nothing on the logs to point out where it was.

Reati

Jeff2 wrote: »

A programme can be run to go to x, y then random flying between x, y for what ever time on a PC.
So I guess it could be done here.

Programs require gps. I’d bet that is disabled on the hardware and these are flying manually give DJI geo would block a DJI drone. If I could see a clip of it flying I’d not be long telling you if it’s a human or computer flying.

robinph

Hurrache wrote: »

Don't know how true or not this is, but apparently this is the latest sighting
https://twitter.com/lord_splashy/status/1075868982899548162?s=19

I'd be inclined to think that is fake seeing as there is a plane taxiing.

Hurrache

I thought that too but then I was sure that's a land based vehicle, dunno.

The clear sky could give a good clue though.

Beechwoodspark

Interesting report on bbc news at mo about the whole incident

ED E

And the fact that it isn't Gatwick apparently.

Beechwoodspark

ED E wrote: »

And the fact that it isn't Gatwick apparently.

Huh?

NIMAN

The BBC are letting the authorities off lightly I feel.

Just filler pieces about drones, but why aren't they asking the hard question about why it has been 2 days, and abiut to become 3, that they cannot find where these are landing and taking off from? There was even a guy on from a company who has the technology to track drones!

Hurrache

Beechwoodspark wrote: »

Huh?

Someone on Twitter has said the video I linked to isn't Gatwick.

NIMAN

Hurrache wrote: »

Someone on Twitter has said the video I linked to isn't Gatwick.

Its on the Internet, fair chance it's fake.

Ninthlife

Its like the movie Batteries not Included all over again..

Jeff2

Reati wrote: »

Programs require gps. I’d bet that is disabled on the hardware and these are flying manually give DJI geo would block a DJI drone. If I could see a clip of it flying I’d not be long telling you if it’s a human or computer flying.

I don't know that much about these things but if I can track a plane on the ground on flighttracker there has to be a way to control a drone that way.

Remotely or preprogrammed. Autopilot.

cameramonkey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wewaCdSW4yc

The Russian shot down a load of these in Syria.

The Russian also it was reported took control of a US stealth drone over Iran a number of years ago. The landed the drone and reverse engineered the tec.

Jeff2

cameramonkey wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wewaCdSW4yc


The Russian also it was reported took control of a US stealth drone over Iran a number of years ago. The landed the drone and reverse engineered the tec.

I remember that.

The fact they took control of it and landed it was funny.

Inquitus

Reati wrote: »

Programs require gps. I’d bet that is disabled on the hardware and these are flying manually give DJI geo would block a DJI drone. If I could see a clip of it flying I’d not be long telling you if it’s a human or computer flying.

There is software that allows you to disable Geo Fencing, its much like the old iOS firmware jailbreaks, it works until its fixed but it is out there.