WELCOME
So what do you think should be done about drones? If you visit our website, businesstraveller.com, you’ll see that we’ve been covering this subject for many years, and warning about their potential dangers for nearly as long. The combination of a drone and a low flying aircraft, either on the approach to an airport or departing, is a frightening one, yet airports have been caught napping. Ironically, meeting an extremely well-informed member of the Heathrow staff in early December, I asked whether they ever worried about drones. The answer was they didn’t. They had measures in place. Then later that month came the Gatwick chaos, followed by the thankfully much shorter disruption at Heathrow in January. They worry now.
Prior to those incidents, the main concern was that someone would either inadvertently or deliberately, in the case of a terrorist, fly one into an aircraft engine and cause a disaster. We didn’t foresee the possibility that it might be done simply to cause disruption; to frustrate the airport and passengers, perhaps to make a statement about the environmental impact of flying, or airport expansion.
It’s too early to tell what the motives were of those responsible, or even in some cases whether the drones existed at all. What we do know is that new regulations must make this an impossibility along with larger exclusion zones and more patrols. Whatever the reasons for these drone incursions, the level of disruption and ease of avoiding detection will encourage others. We’ve been warned. Now is the time to act.