Drone sighting shuts down Heathrow

THE vulnerability of Britain’s airports was exposed on Tuesday night after a drone sighting paralysed Heathrow.

Just three weeks after the fiasco at Gatwick, flights were grounded at Heathrow for more than an hour – causing misery for travellers.

A single reported sighting of a drone was enough to shut Europe’s biggest airport for almost 90 minutes at the busiest time of day. A massive police operation was launched, with the army put on standby to deploy specialist equipment.

Heathrow confirmed it had ordered millions of pounds of military-grade anti-drone equipment, but would not say whether it had been deployed yet.

Travellers stuck in their seats on taxiing aircraft watched airport vehicles on the runway desperately hunting the drone. Officials were unable to say if the sighting was even confirmed.

The pilot of one flight to Hong Kong reportedly told passengers the drone was seen “at the take-off point on the runway”.

Gareth Hutchins, who was trapped on a flight, added: “If you think a drone is annoying, wait until you’re stuck on a non-moving plane with my two-and-a-half-year-old for more than an hour. Pray for us.”

Travel experts estimated the incident led to 40 flight delays.

Measures to install anti-drone missiles and detectors were promised in the wake of the Gatwick chaos, which crippled services in the run-up to Christmas.

Potential solutions are thought to include the Israeli-designed Drone Dome, which can detect and jam communications.

Heathrow declined to give details on what system it had ordered and whether it was operational yet.

Metropolitan police officers at the airport are reported to have been practising using “net” bazookas to bring down rogue drones.

But they are not thought to be ready to protect the airport yet.

The latest incident came barely 24 hours after the government laid out plans to give airport workers the power to shoot down drones with net bazookas and shotguns.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling scrambled to reassure the public he had the situation under control, tweeting: “I have already spoken to both the home secretary and defence secretary, and the military are preparing to deploy the equipment used at Gatwick at Heathrow quickly should it prove necessary.”

He was stung by heavy criticism over the debacle at Gatwick, when more than 1000 flights and 140000 passengers were affected between December 19 and 21.

Sussex Police arrested an innocent couple and then suggested there might never have been a drone, before claiming it had been a “mis-statement”.