Drone returns .... to mock police
GATWICK’S drone saboteur brought more misery to Christmas home-comers last night as he flew his aircraft back over the runway.
Evading what the airport authorities claimed was a state-of-the-art detection system, the drone was able to dart through the airspace once again – and even mockingly flashed lights at British police officers below.
The airport finally reopened yesterday morning after having been shut for 33 hours due to the first drone sighting. But in a dramatic twist, the ‘cat and mouse’ games resumed just after 5pm when the unmanned aircraft suddenly reappeared.
Flights were immediately suspended as the rogue pilot continued to outwit the police snipers and RAF troops now stationed around the airport’s perimeter. The turmoil is likely to last until Christmas Eve and beyond, affecting hundreds of thousands of passengers.
It is understood that the drone is specially modified and has been flying close to the control tower, and even flashing a light at the police, in apparently deliberate taunts.
A huge manhunt involving the police, the army and even British security service MI5 is under way in the countryside south of London. But police still don’t know whether a ‘lone wolf’ environmentalist, a gang of ecowarriors, a criminal gang or even a foreign state-sponsored group is responsible.
On another miserable day for passengers:
Police said they had identified ‘persons of interest’ but there was no sign of any arrests – or of any motive being determined;
Experts raised fears that the drone could even be ‘pre-programmed’ with the operator many kilometres away;
Britain’s under-fire Transport Secretary Chris Grayling refused to rule out a foreign power being responsible;
Another 184 flights due to depart yesterday had been cancelled by 7pm last night – more than one in five. Almost 1,000 have now been cancelled in total;
Airport bosses admitted that Gatwick would become more vulnerable to drone incursions again when the military equipment erected on the south terminal is removed;
It emerged that the runway was closed twice on July 2 last year – once for nine minutes and once for five minutes – after a drone was spotted;
Last night, furious passengers asked why authorities had not been able to bring down the drone and track down those responsible.
Grace Lyons, who was at the airport for 29 hours, said: ‘It’s an absolute mess. It’s very worrying that a few drones can shut down an airport for so long. It’s very likely this will happen again.’ Jack Taylor tweeted: ‘Why didn’t they just shoot it down? I’ve seen drones come down off someone throwing a toilet roll at it, why did it take so long, have I missed something?’ And Aimee Trowell tweeted: ‘How embarrassing that the police and Gatwick Airport have let this go on so long! How can a couple of idiots with drones cause so much chaos.’
Gatwick reopened at just before 6am yesterday following the first appearance of the drone on Wednesday night. In total, 110,000 passengers were caught up in the chaos on Thursday, with 760 flights grounded. The first flight to arrive yesterday was from Shanghai at 6.11am, with the first outbound flight departing to Lapland at 6.24am. Airport bosses said they were confident to reopen the airport after the installation of military-grade systems to protect it.
Police have faced calls to shoot down the drone, but they say it would not be effective due to the difficulty in hitting a fast-moving target, high up in the sky, as well as the possibility of the damage from stray bullets.
The latest drone was detected at 5.10pm yesterday by new equipment brought in by police, forcing bosses to close the runway once again. The airport was reopened at 6.10pm after the drone flew away.
A source revealed that for the last three days, the operator has mockingly flashed its lights at police hovering close before zooming off. At other times, the operator has indulged in a fly-by over the control tower and whizzed over the heads of officers.
Senior officer Steve Barry from Sussex Police insisted shooting down the drones was ‘probably one of the least effective options’.
He said police snipers at the runway yesterday had ‘no opportunity’ to open fire, although they would consider using firearms.
‘How embarrassing that police have let it go on’