Gatwick drone chaos ‘WAS an inside job’

Boss believes culprit knew about airport weak spots

An Insider was probably flying the drone that brought Gatwick airport to a standstill for 33 hours, the police and a senior executive believe.

The culprit may have been hiding inside britain’s second busiest airport and eavesdropping on radio and internet security messages.

at least 140,000 passengers were affected in the week before Christmas as 1,000 flights were cancelled or diverted.

Despite a huge operation to catch the culprit and numerous sightings, no rogue drone operator was identified.

Gatwick’s chief operating officer has told bbC’s Panorama the drone pilot appeared to have been aware of the airport’s procedures and weak spots.

In his first interview since the crisis Chris Woodroofe said: ‘It was clear that the drone operators had a link into what was going on at the airport.’

They appeared either to be able to see what was happening on the runway or were following the airport’s response by eavesdropping on radio or internet connections, he confirmed.

Sussex Police back the ‘insider’ theory, saying it ‘was treated as a credible line of inquiry from the earliest stages of the police response’.

The force even admitted the operator could have been guiding the drone from a building inside the airport perimeter with a clear view of what was going on.

In February, Whitehall sources also suggested a disgruntled employee could have been behind the drone attack.

One said the pilot ‘knew the blind spots for it, where it could not be hit’.

The chaos began at 9.03pm on December 19 when flights were grounded after two drones were spotted. runways were closed until the morning of the 21st.

Sussex Police recorded 130 separate drone sightings by 115 people, all but six of whom were by air traffic control staff, pilots, security personnel or police.

Sussex Police was criticised when drone enthusiast Paul Gait, 47, and his wife Elaine, 54, from nearby Crawley, West Sussex, were arrested. They were held in custody for 36 hours before being released.

Mr Woodroofe said the airport had not overreacted by shutting down, saying it was faced with an unprecedented ‘malicious’ and ‘criminal’ attack.

runways must be closed if a drone is present under airport protocols, he said.

‘There is absolutely nothing that I would do differently when I look back at the incident because, ultimately, my number one priority has to be to maintain the safety of passengers and that’s what we did,’ he said.

‘and it was terrible that 140,000 people’s journeys were disrupted but everyone was safe.’

Gatwick spent £5million on anti-drone equipment after the attack but Mr Woodroofe defended the airport, saying the Government had not approved systems prior to the incident.

The systems are now tested daily using an airport drone.

Panorama, The Gatwick Drone attack, bbC1 tonight.