Drone sightings shut down London airport
LONDON — One of the most heavily surveilled strips of one of the most heavily surveilled countries was brought to a standstill and shut to air traffic for more than 24 hours at the peak of the holiday season Thursday by a humble pair of drones.
The shutdown scrambled hundreds of flights, stranded tens of thousands of passengers and reduced the British government to playing catand-mouse with two drones that, possibly with little more than an ipad, were repeatedly sent floating over the runway of the country’s second-largest airport in what officials called a “deliberate act” before vanishing.
About 20 police units searched the perimeter of the airfield to track down the drones’ operators. By Thursday night, the British government said it would deploy the military at Gatwick Airport in a bid to help reopen it, although it was not clear what its role would be. And police sharpshooters were spotted at the airport, although officials had earlier precluded that option, citing the risk of a stray bullet hitting someone.
Airport staff members first spotted the drones flying over the perimeter fence and into the runway area around 9 p.m. Wednesday. Officials shut the runway, then reopened it around 3 a.m. Thursday before closing it again about 45 minutes later when there was another sighting. Yet another drone was spotted late Thursday morning.
Police officials said there were “no indications to suggest this is terror-related.”
The episode was proving not only to be a humiliation for aviation officials, but also the most sobering evidence yet that airports across the world can be brought to their knees by devices that anyone can buy at a mall.
The number of aircraft scares involving drones recorded by the British government has shot up from none in 2013 to more than 100 this year, and planes in Mexico and Canada have recently survived dangerous collisions with what appeared to be drones. The police described the devices used at Gatwick as “of industrial specification.”
“Over 90 percent of airports in the world are unprepared for drones,” said Tim Bean, the founder and chief executive of Fortem Technologies, which is testing a drone defense system on several U.S. runways. “Airports, stadiums, borders, oil and gas refineries — they spend a lot of money on ground security, but I think they now need to think about their airspace security.”