Fuji_Abound wrote:
Is it that difficult to jam drones within a RAT?
Yes. It would cause an awful lot of “colateral damage”, be expensive to do, and it would also upset the spectrum regulator who would in many cases delight in levying the very large fines they are often empowered to levy.
Consumer drones typically use the 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz ISM bands, which is shared with WiFi and a shedload of other devices. For example, a signal strong enough to jam drones in the RA (T) for the Isle of Man TT would also render WiFi useless over dozens of square kilometers, along with anything else using the 2.4 and 5.8 GHz bands. The signal would also need to have multiple transmitter sites and quite powerful transmitters.
If you have a drone which flies on GPS to some point, loiters, and flies back, you can’t jam it unless you jam GPS, and with certain fairly obvious precautions they could make the GPS relatively jam-proof.
NATS “drone chief”: all drone users are clueless, careless or criminal.
He has since issued a written apology. Too little and too late. He should have made that apology to the committee.
Great to see people of such calibre in charge 
I’m afraid the NATS “drone chief” is almost right: the drone users I’ve met who aren’t traditional RC modellers or who don’t fly full scale planes (in other words, the majority of drone users) are at the very least clueless. And they are the reason – to use the internet vernacular ‘why we can’t have nice things’.
Unfortunately they’ve sucked everyone including the traditional RC modellers (who were seldom a problem, because even with an almost-ready-to-fly kit, crashing is all too easy and very expensive – so traditional RC modellers tended to get a clue early on basically so their wallets didn’t get punished) into new and draconian regulation through their ignorance.
The problem is most drone users will simply ignore the regulations (requirement to register and pay the CAA £16 a year for the privilege) and are unlikely to ever be caught (and they know it). Traditional RC flyers, who tend to follow the rules, will end up bearing the brunt of it.
Here’s a really good one – airprox with a drone (4th from bottom of the drone reports)
What is the Vs of a Eurofox??? This is complete bollox.
Peter wrote:
What is the Vs of a Eurofox?
35 knots. They are pretty slow. (My RC helicopter will do about 70 to 80 mph, and many drones will do 60).
I think any Eurofox pilot who says a drone flew up to him (in normal flight) and then accelerated in the same direction he was flying in, must be on some substance he better not disclose to his AME
The UK airprox board seems to be totally pointless.
I wouldn’t dismiss it too readily. Flying pigs and elephants are old r/c favourites – youtube finds pigs flying round Brighton (albeit more slowly) and a speedy American pig that is probably doing more than 35 knots.
This article is interesting regarding actual vs assumed drone sightings.
Pilot_Sep_2019_The_great_drone_myth_pdf
They have even set up a website that gives scores to drone reportings.
https://www.airproxrealitycheck.org/
That’s a good well written article.
The UK airprox board is a total waste of space.
And still not a single photo of the “Gatwick drone” has appeared, despite hundreds of security cameras all over the place.
