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"Deliberate drone attack" shuts down Gatwick airport

Peter wrote:

except for the battery packs but those are quite soft.

There’s nothing soft about the motors, which are as hard as bullets. But all the same, the Gatwick stories have all the hallmarks of classic UFO sightings (eg no actual evidence), something I learned a lot about in a misspent youth flying torch bulbs on kites, etc..

EGBW / KPRC, United Kingdom

Unfortunately there are enough idiots who will fly their drones near airfields and airports and there have been enough incidents where such irresponsible individuals have threatened the safety of airliners or even more so GA planes.

Therefore the regulation that drones must not be flown within a 5 km radius of any airport is just about the minimum you can do, nothing to do with CYA. And if people who still fly their models within this circle are fined so be it.

Generally I would think they should come up with a solution to limit the size of permit free toy drones which have a limit of height and range, such as max flight alt 20 m and max distance 500 m. Everything else, you need to show your drone license if you want to even buy one and it needs to be registered to you if you want to fly it. The question of adequate 3rd party insurance remains. Causing damage to an airliner will throw most people without insurance into life long poverty. GA has had lessons like that too….

LSZH(work) LSZF (GA base), Switzerland

Mooney_Driver wrote:

Generally I would think they should come up with a solution to limit the size of permit free toy drones which have a limit of height and range, such as max flight alt 20 m and max distance 500 m. Everything else, you need to show your drone license if you want to even buy one and it needs to be registered to you if you want to fly it.

Unfortunately. the EU is going in the other direction. AFAIU, from July 1 next year the maximum mass of permit-free drones will be increased from 7 to 25 kg with a maximum height of 400 ft. They have to be kept in sight by the operator, though.

ESKC (Uppsala/Sundbro), Sweden

Incidentally, while getting the Manchester QNH this morning while headed towards Pole Hill, I heard on the ATIS that there was “authorized drone activity in the vicinity of the aerodrome”

Andreas IOM

alioth wrote:

Incidentally, while getting the Manchester QNH this morning while headed towards Pole Hill, I heard on the ATIS that there was “authorized drone activity in the vicinity of the aerodrome”

Happened at Elstree before – NOTAMed and ATC reminded as well.

EGTR

That assumes that drones are visible to pilots and there is enough time for the pilot to take evasive action?

ESME, ESMS

I guess just avoid reporting it and making sure you/him fly where expected, I think it is a good thing for a drone pilot to call airport if they want to fly their gadgets pending on getting better rules on how to share airspace

I recall someone called to know how they can fly their drone near an airfield, the manager (ex-military) replied in an aggressive manner with strict NO plus chapters/versets on legalities of drone flying and how senstive some military/private glider ops, the drone was spotted flying the next day and we did not have the luxury of another phone call…

Last Edited by Ibra at 03 Oct 13:20
Paris/Essex, France/UK, United Kingdom
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