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Gatwick drone incident update: Wrongly arrested couple says police are covering up failure

Police flying drone Gatwick

The infamous drone sightings that caused the UK’s Gatwick Airport to close for almost two days in 2018 have dominated news broadcasts and counter-drone industry discussions for what seems like eons. But to date, no culprit has been found. And so, the couple that was wrongly accused of the chaos is now calling out the police for failure to publish a report on the incident.

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Sustained drone attack closed Gatwick, airport says

Sustained drone attack closed Gatwick, airport says

Talking about drone incidents, Gatwick Airport claims that a sustained drone attack was responsible for the severe travel disruption at the airport last year. In an article by BBC News, it is reported that over 100 drone sightings had been seen over three days and the majority of the sightings were made by police officers or airport workers. The main question remains though, where is the evidence that a drone was indeed the culprit?


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EasyJet: drone chaos was wake-up call for airports

EasyJet: drone chaos was wake-up call for airports

EasyJet says that the drone chaos at Gatwick was a “wake-up call” for airports. Right before the Christmas holidays, alleged drone sightings caused the airport to shut down and as a result, many flights were either canceled or diverted leaving many travelers stranded. EasyJet claims that the Gatwick fiasco has cost them £15m ($19.6M) in passenger compensation and lost revenues, and hit 82,000 customers.


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DJI urges caution in evaluating reports of drone incidents

DJI urges caution in evaluating reports of drone incidents

As we have recently seen at Gatwick and Heathrow Airport, people are quick to point to drones as the culprits when often times other items may have been seen and misidentified as unmanned aerial systems. This morning DJI has sent out an official statement urging people to be cautious in evaluating reports of drone incidents and also say that the recent sightings at multiple airports may have been influenced by publicity.


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DJI welcomes new UK drone regulation in aftermath of Gatwick Fiasco

DJI welcomes new UK drone regulation in aftermath of Gatwick Fiasco

In the aftermath of the Gatwick Fiasco, the UK government outlined new drone rules in a document titled: “Taking Flight: The Future of Drones in the UK” to reduce the likelihood of another supposedly drone-caused fiasco at one of the major airports in England. Here’s DJI’s official response as they welcome new UK drone regulation.


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Heathrow Airport runway closed after drone sighting

Heathrow Airport runway closed after drone sighting

Three weeks after the Gatwick fiasco, now Heathrow Airport halted departures and closed a runway after a possible drone sighting late Tuesday evening. About an hour later, the departures had resumed at Europe’s busiest airport. On Tuesday night, Britain’s transport secretary, Chris Grayling said that the military was ready to deploy the same military-grade counter-drone equipment that was used at Gatwick, “should it prove necessary.”


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Gatwick Airport drone

Gatwick Airport drone: Lots of second-guessing, but not many answers

Now more than a week later after the infamous Gatwick Airport drone sightings, few questions have been answered. As of yet, no evidence that one or more drones were actually involved has emerged. Neither have any culprits been found. What has become very obvious though is how ill-prepared Gatwick Airport (and likely many other airports) are for occurrences like these.


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Gatwick Airport fiasco perfectly summed up in Cartoon

Gatwick Airport fiasco Drone Santa Shot

A cartoon perfectly sums up the Gatwick Airport fiasco. It was posted by UK Paramedic Humour on Facebook and it shows one police officer saying to the other policeman holding a smoking rifle: “I don’t think that was a drone…” as the two are looking down on a Santa and his crashed sleigh and reindeer. In the background, you can see Gatwick Airport.


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Gatwick Airport confusion: Police say it is a possibility there never was a drone

Gatwick Airport confusion: Police say it is a possibility there never was a drone

The Gatwick Airport confusion. This story is getting stranger by the day it seems. First, two suspects were arrested earlier in the weekend. The man and woman turned out to be innocent and have since been released. Then, a little later, a damaged drone was found near the airport. However, now the police say that there is: “a possibility there never was a drone.” Meanwhile, there have been 67 drone sightings at Gatwick Airport the last week. If this all starts to sound confusing to you, well, you’re not alone.


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Two people arrested after ‘criminal use of drones’ at Gatwick Airport

Two people arrested after 'criminal use of drones' at Gatwick Airport

Hopefully, the drone chaos at Gatwick Airport will now have come to an end with the arrest of two people in connection with the ‘criminal use of drones’ which affected at least 120,000 people on Wednesday and Thursday. According to the Sussex police, a man and a woman were apprehended by officers in the Gatwick area around 10 PM on Friday.


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Drone spotted ‘within the last hour’ – Drone chaos continues. Gatwick remains closed

Drone spotted 'within the last hour' - Gatwick remains closed

As we move into the third day of drone chaos at Gatwick Airport, we learned that there have been over 50 sightings of the unmanned aircraft on Thursday and that the drone was spotted ‘within the last hour’ later in the day. The drone chaos at Gatwick started Wednesday evening and lasted all of Thursday. Now officials say that the airport will remain closed at least until Friday morning 6 am local time. The drone chaos continues and Gatwick remains closed going into Friday. Read below the latest details of the mess that has now affected more than 350,000 people according to some reports.
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DJI offers assistance to Gatwick Airport incident investigators

DJI offers assistance to Gatwick Airport incident investigators

Today’s drone news has been dominated by the closing of Gatwick Airport as a result of drones entering the airspace over the landing and take off areas. Many flights have been canceled, leaving thousands of travelers stranded at Gatwick Airport and at other airports as well. DJI just offered their support to the Gatwick Airport incident investigators in an official announcement. There is as of yet however no indication that DJI drones were involved. Police have described them as ‘industrial’ drones. This is not the first time that drones have caused chaos as Gatwick Airport btw. Last year we had another situation in which drones caused many flights to divert or stay in a holding pattern.


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Drones shut down London’s Gatwick Airport during busy holiday travel season

Drones shut down London's Gatwick Airport during busy holiday travel season

Drones have caused chaos for many thousands of holiday travelers at London’s second-busiest airport. Officials of London’s Gatwick airport have said that 110,000 passengers and 760 flights are scheduled today. However, because of the multiple drone inferences currently, none of these flights can take off or land. The first delays caused by the drones happened late last night. Normal flight operations resumed around 3 am, only to be halted again an hour later when a drone was seen again.


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Airbus 319 with 130 passengers narrowly misses drone at Gatwick Airport

UK Drone incidents rose more than a third in 2018, say safety experts

BBC News just reported that an Airbus 319 narrowly missed a large drone while approaching Gatwick Airport. A UK Airprox Board report revealed that 130 lives were at risk when a large diameter drone passed directly over the wing, in between the wingtip and the fuselage. An “airprox” is when distances between aircraft are seen to compromise safety. The incident happened on July 9th when a drone was “flown into conflict” with the Airbus 319. According to the report, there had been a high chance of collision.


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