Gatwick airport delays: Army called in to help battle drone chaos with flights grounded for at least 33 hours
Up to 120,000 passengers affected by delays and cancellations after devices force runway closure
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Your support makes all the difference.The Army was called in to Gatwick to deal with rogue drones being repeatedly flown overheard in what police said was a ”deliberate” attempt to disrupt Britain’s second-busiest airport.
More than 120,000 passengers have been affected by delays and cancellations, with all flights grounded for at least 33 hours as the Christmas getaway begins.
The drone or drones first appeared at 9pm on Wednesday and by Thursday night there had been 50 reported sightings. The airport is not due to open before 6am on Friday.
Sussex Police said they were trying to identify the make and model of the flying machine and were actively considering shooting it down.
Detective Chief Superintendent Jason Tingley said the use of firearms “will be within our suite of tactical options available to us going forward”.
He added: “One of the options is to use firearms officers if that presents itself – they have been out on the ground today and that’s a consideration and a tactical option that is open to us.
“There are a number of factors in terms of range, the height of the drone and the likely impact of us firing at the drone but that is a tactical option open to the gold commander who will make a decision based on the information available to them at the time.”
Chris Woodroofe, Gatwick’s chief operating officer, said the airport could potentially remain closed for all of Friday following further drone sightings.
He said: “My apologies to all those passengers who have seen this disruption from the criminal activity from these people who are purposely disrupting our airport and their travel so close to Christmas.”
“We have had the police, we have had the military seeking to bring this drone down for the last 24 hours and to date that has not been successful so Gatwick Airport is still closed.
The government, which condemned the activity as as “incredible irresponsible”, is facing widespread calls for the urgent introduction of stronger drone laws.
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said there was no known motive for the drone activity but said there was no suggestion it was related to terrorism.
To read our coverage of developments as they happened, see below
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Police were called to plane at Gatwick last night after frustrated passengers reportedly became abusive to the flight crew.
This video shows officers on board the aircraft:
Aviation minister Baroness Sugg says the government is considering extending police powers to prevent drones causing airport disruption in the future.
She told BBC News: "I think it's important to be clear this is a crime, this drone is being flown illegally.
"Earlier this year we changed the law to make it illegal to fly within a kilometre of an airport and I know that police are out and trying to bring the drone down as quickly as possible.
"This is an illegal act. We are also looking to extend police powers and early in the new year we'll be looking at our next steps on that.
"The other thing we're looking at is counter-drone technology. Technology in this area is obviously moving incredibly quickly, but we need to make sure we're able to stop such activity in future."
Sussex Police has described the disruption caused by drones at Gatwick as a "deliberate act", but says there are "no indications to suggest this is terror related".
The force is conducting a joint search with Surrey Police for the pilots of the drones, first spotted more than 13 hours ago.
The situation at Gatwick airport departures lounge is "a mess", passengers have told my colleague Zamira Rahim, who has filed this report:
Gatwick is a key hub for passengers travelling to and from Scotland, and a wide range of flights have been cancelled, writes The Independent's travel correspondent Simon Calder.
Early round-trips between Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Gatwick on easyJet have been cancelled, with other flights later in the day in jeopardy and currently heavily delayed.
Flights will not resume at Gatwick airport before 1pm today, according to Eurocontrol, which co-ordinates Europe's airways.
Labour has urged Theresa May to fast-track tougher laws on the mis-use of drones, accusing the government of being "too slow to act" on previous near-misses.
Shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald said:
Events at Gatwick Airport highlight the urgent need for clear rules on the use of drones near airports. There has been growing concern over the increasing number of near misses between drones and manned aircraft and the Government has been too slow to act.
The Government should fast-track the introduction of a regulatory framework to protect against the misuse of drones and ensure the safety of UK airspace. This should include a drone exclusion zone around airports.
Last week it emerged a passenger plane landing at Stansted Airport came within 50ft of hitting a drone which was flying more than 20 times the permitted height.
In April, a drone was allegedly flown "deliberately" at another aircraft approaching the RAF's Northolt base in an attempt to cause a mid-air collision.
A passenger who spent the night on Gatwick's floor with her eight-year-old daughter and three-year-old son has described the situation as an "emotional disaster".
Yulia Hristova has been at the airport since midnight and was meant to fly to Istanbul via Kiev at 3am today.
She told Press Association:
"With two kids I'm in a difficult position, I'm so tired, I'm so upset, we've had no information.
"We were standing for hours, nobody's been on the desk. It was so cold. We were sleeping on the floor, me and my children. I lost my son during the night, and a policeman brought him back.
"I was meant to be reunited with my family, my kids were so excited they didn't sleep until 6am, they were waiting to get on the plane. It's been an emotional disaster.
"I'm so exhausted, I don't want to stress out but it's very worrying. What's going to happen to us in Ukraine? What if we run out of money? Are the airline going to put us in a hotel? I want to give up right now, it's making me so anxious."
Gatwick Airport's policing commander has said is "absolutely convinced" the drones are a "deliberate act to disrupt Gatwick Airport''.
Superintendent Justin Burtenshaw said officers were "still getting sightings of a drone in and around the airfield".
He told BBC News: "This has been going on for 10 hours now. Each time we believe we get close to the operator, the drone disappears; when we look to reopen the airfield, the drone reappears.
"I'm absolutely convinced it's a deliberate act to disrupt Gatwick Airport."
He added there had been no intelligence this was going to happen, saying it was "a random act that's happened overnight".
Asked if he thought the drone operator would be caught, Mr Burtenshaw added: "I'm convinced we will. It's a painstaking thing with the new drones - the bigger the drone, the bigger the reach of the operator, so it's a difficult and challenging thing to locate them, but I've got teams now and I've got investigators looking at how we do that, and I'm confident we will."
What are the restrictions around flying drones near airports?
Earlier this year, new laws came into force which ban all drones from flying above 400ft and within 1km of airport boundaries.
Drone users who flout these restrictions could face an unlimited fine and up to five years in prison.
The regulations were introduced in response to research funded by the Department for Transport (DfT), which found that a drone weighing 400g could smash a helicopter windscreen and a device weighing 2kg could critically damage an airliner's window.
Other laws set to come into force in November mean people flying drones which weigh 250g or more will have to register with the Civil Aviation Authority. Drone pilots will be required to take an online safety test under the new legislation.
In July, the DfT said it was considering introducing a ban on children from owning drones weighing at least 250g.
It is also considering giving police the power to issue on-the-spot fines of up to £300 for misuse of drones and to seize devices being used irresponsibly.
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