THE TROUBLE WITH DRONES
"Mechanical geese from Hell"
The skies are filled with literally millions of drones. Chinese company DJI, which dominates the consumer market, has sold several million quadcopters since the launch of their original Phantom in 2013. These provide a simple explanation for any mysterious light in the sky. The problem is that drones are proving to be every bit as elusive as other types of UFO, and unlike previous sightings they demand to be taken seriously by the authorities.
Drones are hard to find. They are small and contain few metal parts, so they do not show up on radar as readily as other types of aircraft. In practice, special ‘counter unmanned air systems’ (CUAS) radars are needed, which typically have a range of only a few kilometres. Also, drones do not require an airfield or landing facilities, so it is impossible to stake out possible operating bases. And finally, because they are so cheap, its operator may choose simply to ditch a drone rather than risk flying it back to base, so even if the drone is located the operator may never be identified.
Authorities need to respond to drone sightings because there is the risk of a tangible reality behind them, one that is capable of doing damage. Studies have found that even a small drone presents a far more serious collision hazard to aircraft and helicopters than a bird: one writer described them as “mechanical geese from hell.” This is because some components, in particular batteries, are much harder and denser than anything inside a bird. Running into a bird at 200mph may be like hitting a pillow, whereas a drone is more like hitting a brick, with the potential to shatter a windscreen or shred a jet turbine.
Hence all the concern around Gatwick in December 2018. Drone sightings disrupted around 1,000 flights, which were diverted or cancelled, affecting some 140,000 passengers. There were repeated sightings of drones, but no physical or photographic evidence. The military were called in with special anti-drone equipment.
On 21 December, three days after the initial sighting, Gatwick was operating normally again. Two people were arrested and released without charge; a damaged drone was found near the airport, but this did not appear to have any connection with the scare. A police statement seemed to suggest that the whole thing might have been a false alarm, but this was soon retracted. “We can unequivocally state that there have been numerous illegal drone
A police statement seemed to suggest that the whole thing might have been a false alarm
sightings at the airport over three days from 19 to 21 December,” stated Deputy Chief Constable Jo Shiner on 24 December 2018. “There were numerous reports clustered around 37 occasions where a drone or drones were seen.”
A few weeks later, on 8 January 2019, flights were grounded at Heathrow airport due to a drone sighting, but again nothing resulted. Similar events have hit many other airports worldwide.
An even bigger wave of drone/UFO sightings occurred recently in and around Colorado (see FT391:17), with multiple reports of swarms of drones flying in formation at night, sometimes without lights. A task force of 15 federal and local law enforcement agencies – including the FBI and the US Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations – was set up to investigate. Since then, sightings have tailed off and no drones or operators have been identified.
While the Colorado Department of Public Safety concluded that there were no reports of criminal activity associated with the drones, they were being flown illegally. The American FAA imposes very strict rules on drones being flown at night, and such flights are not allowed without a special licence. Drone sightings in the area continue, but in much lower numbers. Several social media groups have sprung up, and some of these suggest that people are now reluctant to make official reports because of fears of ridicule or trolling. These fears are likely to have been amplified by media reports, such as one in Vice magazine, that the drones may not even exist.
Experts I spoke to agreed that the background noise of random reports was likely to drown out real sightings. “People become hypersensitive after a scare. Everything with a flashing light will get reported as a mystery drone,” said Richard Gill, Founder & CEO of UK company Drone Defence Services. At both Colorado and Heathrow, passing aircraft were frequently identified as drones. To confuse matters further, aircraft and drones looking for the mystery drones were themselves identified as mystery drones.
Even if such an investigation turns up physical evidence, it may only complicate the mystery, because finding a drone does not tell you who has sent it or why. The Russian airbase at Khmeimim in Syria has suffered repeated attacks by numbers of drones since January 2018. These are garage-built devices resembling model aircraft, each carrying several grenadesized bombs, with a range of something like 100km (60 miles). These drones could have been built by anyone; the Russians say their accurate targeting means the drones must have been sent with the aid of a foreign power, and at various times have pointed the finger at the US, Turkey and Ukraine.
Deniability has always been an important aspect of drone operations. When the USS Boxer downed a drone in July 2019, US authorities claimed the drone was Iranian. The Iranian government immediately said it was not one of theirs. Did the drone come from a rogue Iranian faction? Or a third party trying to stir up trouble between the US and Iran? Or was it, as the Iranians suggested, a case of friendly fire downing an American drone? Similar confusion obfuscates many other drone incidents in the Middle East.
Now they are so easily available, everyone is flying modified commercial drones. Criminal cartels use them for smuggling, government agencies for espionage, terrorists to prepare for or carry out attacks, activists to disrupt airports. Meanwhile they are used innocently by filmmakers, hobbyists and scientific researchers. Untangling which drones are which, and which sightings are even real, is going to be a challenge in the 21st century.
And if aliens really did want to covertly observe life on Earth, copying our drones would be an excellent way to do it.