Gatwick Drones
-
It's amazing these aren't permanently deployed on big airports as a matter of course
https://www.janes.com/article/82347/uk-signs-for-drone-dome-c-uas-system
-
given the impact to flights and the cost of delays, if it was a drone, it shoulda just been shot down as soon as it was located.
I seriously doubt there is anyone anywhere that wouldnt know it was not only illegal to fly a drone at an airport, but incredibly dangerous and fucking retarded.
-
I do feel a bit sorry for the poor bloke that was collared for it. Without making too many assumptions about his innocence - how was he doing it from work? What did his wife have to do with it? And yet they were both "questioned" for 36 hours.
The whole thing is a bit weird.
-
@Machpants said in Stupid shit you see on the internet:
It's amazing these aren't permanently deployed on big airports as a matter of course
https://www.janes.com/article/82347/uk-signs-for-drone-dome-c-uas-system
Apparently it was used.
"The Israeli-developed Drone Dome system, which can detect drones using radar, is believed to have been used. It can jam communications between the drone and its operator, enabling authorities to take control of and land the device."
-
@taniwharugby well yeah, you'd think! Is it really that easy though? Both to just locate and shoot.
It's really fucking odd though, now saying there's a possibility there was actually no drone, but carrying on investigating as though there is and saying it may happen again. A damaged drone has been found by the airport but they seem skeptical.
Surely the repeated sightings weren't just by a handful of people and so fleeting as to be figments of their imagination?
-
The “suspect’s” boss is less than impressed with the police’s handling of the investigation.
Sussex police were accused of running an “appalling” investigation into the drone disruption at Gatwick after they held an innocent couple for 36 hours despite them having a solid alibi.
Paul Gait, 47, a window fitter, and his wife Elaine Kirk, 54, were arrested on Friday night on suspicion of flying drones over the airport after a tip-off from the public, and released yesterday with no further action.
John Allard, Mr Gait’s boss, criticised police for failing to return his phone calls when he tried to tell them about his employee’s alibi for the three days last week when drones were reported.
Mr Allard, 68, who runs Allard Double Glazing in Crowborough, where Mr Gait has worked for 17 years, said he tried to contact police after the couple were arrested on Friday night but he was unable to get through to anybody.
He said: “Obviously the police could have handled it better just by asking the who, when and where. The police have handled this absolutely appallingly, they really have.
“All it would have taken was for them to call me and contact me as his employer and I could have confirmed that all day Wednesday and half the day Thursday, he was part of a three-man team installing fascia, soffit and guttering at a client’s home in Groombridge, Kent. On Friday he spent most of the day running my daughter about because she damaged one of her toes and he was ferrying her to the doctors.
“I discovered on Friday evening that he had been arrested. I got on to the police yesterday [Saturday] evening, but I couldn’t get through to anybody, there was just somebody who said, ‘I’ll take notes and pass that message on.’ But they never did get back to me, there was no return contact.”
Mr Allard said that police had left Mr Gait’s house in disarray despite a “clear lack of evidence”. He said that Mr Gait, an ex-soldier and model aircraft enthusiast, did not even own a drone as he had sold his in the summer. It was only a “silly little one [that] anyone could have bought in Hamleys”.
“Sussex police have really dropped the ball on this. I have always supported the police and I like to think I always would but in this case I think they have really got it wrong.”
Mr Gait and Ms Kirk made no comment yesterday morning as they returned to their home in Crawley, five miles from the airport.
Giving a statement on their behalf, Mr Allard’s daughter Gemma said: “Paul Gait and Elaine Kirk have been released without charge and no further inquiries are pending. They have been in custody for over 36 hours and we would ask that their privacy, and their family and friends’, is respected.”
Family, friends and colleagues had expressed shock at the couple’s arrest. Mr Gait’s parents, Margaret, 70, and Francis, 72, said he would never put the lives of passengers in danger. “He was brave and served his country, and always did as he was asked. He has never been in trouble,” his father said.
Detective Chief Superintendent Jason Tingley, the officer in charge of the investigation, insisted he was not back to “square one”. He said: “While these two people have been in custody, we have a number of lines of inquiry and persons of interest.” He said police were working through information relating to “persons of interest”, investigating 67 drone sightings and forensically examining a damaged drone found on the airport’s perimeter yesterday.
-
@taniwharugby radar, of the right type, does it. Just turn them on and let them laser everything to death!
-
@JC said in Gatwick Drones:
The “suspect’s” boss is less than impressed with the police’s handling of the investigation.
‘Appalling’ police lambasted over arrest of couple with drone alibi
Sussex police were accused of running an “appalling” investigation into the drone disruption at Gatwick after they held an innocent couple for 36 hours despite them having a solid alibi.Paul Gait, 47, a window fitter, and his wife Elaine Kirk, 54, were arrested on Friday night on suspicion of flying
Sussex police were accused of running an “appalling” investigation into the drone disruption at Gatwick after they held an innocent couple for 36 hours despite them having a solid alibi.
Paul Gait, 47, a window fitter, and his wife Elaine Kirk, 54, were arrested on Friday night on suspicion of flying drones over the airport after a tip-off from the public, and released yesterday with no further action.
John Allard, Mr Gait’s boss, criticised police for failing to return his phone calls when he tried to tell them about his employee’s alibi for the three days last week when drones were reported.
Mr Allard, 68, who runs Allard Double Glazing in Crowborough, where Mr Gait has worked for 17 years, said he tried to contact police after the couple were arrested on Friday night but he was unable to get through to anybody.
He said: “Obviously the police could have handled it better just by asking the who, when and where. The police have handled this absolutely appallingly, they really have.
“All it would have taken was for them to call me and contact me as his employer and I could have confirmed that all day Wednesday and half the day Thursday, he was part of a three-man team installing fascia, soffit and guttering at a client’s home in Groombridge, Kent. On Friday he spent most of the day running my daughter about because she damaged one of her toes and he was ferrying her to the doctors.
“I discovered on Friday evening that he had been arrested. I got on to the police yesterday [Saturday] evening, but I couldn’t get through to anybody, there was just somebody who said, ‘I’ll take notes and pass that message on.’ But they never did get back to me, there was no return contact.”
Mr Allard said that police had left Mr Gait’s house in disarray despite a “clear lack of evidence”. He said that Mr Gait, an ex-soldier and model aircraft enthusiast, did not even own a drone as he had sold his in the summer. It was only a “silly little one [that] anyone could have bought in Hamleys”.
“Sussex police have really dropped the ball on this. I have always supported the police and I like to think I always would but in this case I think they have really got it wrong.”
Mr Gait and Ms Kirk made no comment yesterday morning as they returned to their home in Crawley, five miles from the airport.
Giving a statement on their behalf, Mr Allard’s daughter Gemma said: “Paul Gait and Elaine Kirk have been released without charge and no further inquiries are pending. They have been in custody for over 36 hours and we would ask that their privacy, and their family and friends’, is respected.”
Family, friends and colleagues had expressed shock at the couple’s arrest. Mr Gait’s parents, Margaret, 70, and Francis, 72, said he would never put the lives of passengers in danger. “He was brave and served his country, and always did as he was asked. He has never been in trouble,” his father said.
Detective Chief Superintendent Jason Tingley, the officer in charge of the investigation, insisted he was not back to “square one”. He said: “While these two people have been in custody, we have a number of lines of inquiry and persons of interest.” He said police were working through information relating to “persons of interest”, investigating 67 drone sightings and forensically examining a damaged drone found on the airport’s perimeter yesterday.
Boss of the year right there . What a good fluffybunny .
-
I suspect that police work in this case was determined by public relations rather than evidence and half decent investigation.
Seems like they wanted to announce the speedy arrest, ( whereby signalling efficiency and competence) when a simple return phone call and alibi checking would've saved 3 days and a house search of resources.
-
