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Gatwick Airport Closed After Drone Flights That Officials Call ‘Deliberate’ Gatwick Airport Closed After Drone Flights That Officials Call ‘Deliberate’
(about 2 hours later)
LONDON — Gatwick Airport, Britain’s second-busiest air hub, was shut down late Wednesday and into Thursday after a drone was seen flying illegally nearby, in what the authorities said was a deliberate act to disrupt flights during one of the year’s busiest travel seasons. LONDON — One of the most heavily surveilled strips of one of the most heavily surveilled nations on earth was brought to a standstill and shut to air traffic for nearly 24 hours at the peak of the holiday season on Thursday by a humble pair of drones.
Arriving flights carrying 10,000 passengers were diverted because of the shutdown, Gatwick officials said, with some travelers forced to land at airports as far away as Paris. Departing flights were initially grounded from 9 p.m. Wednesday to around 3 a.m. Thursday. The shutdown scrambled hundreds of flights, stranded tens of thousands of passengers and reduced the British government to playing cat-and-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 from view.
The airport, which is about 25 miles south of central London and connects fliers to 230 destinations in 70 countries, was shut again at 3:45 a.m. after another reported drone sighting. With police officials still at a loss at Gatwick Airport on Thursday night, 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 the mall.
By 4 p.m. local time, the drone pilot, or pilots, had not been found and all travel in and out of the airport was still shut down. Airport officials said they expected the disruption to last into the weekend. In the midst of reckonings on both sides of the Atlantic about the misbehavior and manipulation of social media companies for unscrupulous ends, the episode was another reminder that the makers of consumer technology are evolving more quickly than the laws designed to keep it in check.
The local police in Sussex, outside London, described the flying of a drone so close to the airport as a “deliberate act,” but said there were “no indications to suggest this is terror related.” Legislators and airport officials are still working on defenses against the last generation of drone technology, while engineers are successfully finding ways to defeat them. Meanwhile, hobbyists and malfeasants alike are turning their neighborhood parks into airports and beginning to crowd newly democratized skies.
Nonetheless, the Ministry of Defense had gotten involved by Thursday afternoon. 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.”
“We are deploying specialist equipment to Gatwick Airport to assist Sussex Police,” a ministry spokesman said, declining to provide details. “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 its own drone defense system on several American 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.”
As part of an investigation with the Surrey police and the National Police Air Service, the Sussex police used Twitter to ask for the public’s help in finding whoever was flying the drone, or drones. The police described the devices as “of industrial specification.” Mr. Bean said airports have been fixated on building tools to intercept drones that emit radio frequency signals, only to find that drones have evolved far beyond that technology, rendering many of the current security systems obsolete.
“We are appealing for information to help us identify the operators of the #Gatwick #drones,” the police wrote. About 20 police units searched the perimeter of the airfield to track down whomever was operating the drones. By Thursday night, the British government said it would deploy the military at Gatwick in a bid to help reopen the airport, though it was not clear what its role would be. And police sharpshooters were spotted at the airport, though officials had earlier precluded that option, citing the risk of a stray bullet hitting someone.
As the shutdown continued, Gatwick and the airlines that use it advised passengers to check the status of flights before coming to the airport. A total of 760 flights carrying 115,000 passengers had been scheduled to leave and arrive Thursday before the day started. Airport staff members first spotted the drones flying over the perimeter fence and into the runway area around 9 p.m. on Wednesday. Officials shut the runway, then reopened it around 3 a.m. on Thursday before closing it again about 45 minutes later when there was another sighting. Yet another drone was spotted late Thursday morning.
A spokeswoman for Heathrow Airport, which is Britain’s busiest and also in London, said it was heightening security in response to the events at Gatwick. “We have increased patrols around our airport,” she said, “and would like to remind the public that unauthorized use of a drone around an airport can carry a custodial sentence of up to five years.” Police officials said there were “no indications to suggest this is terror related.”
Chris Woodroofe, Gatwick’s chief operating officer, told Sky News that two staff members first spotted a drone Wednesday night. “Since then, the drone has appeared and disappeared and appeared and disappeared,” he said. The last reported sighting was around 11 a.m. The shutdown canceled at least 800 flights, disrupted traffic throughout Europe and could end up affecting upwards of 100,000 passengers. Arriving flights carrying 10,000 passengers were diverted, with some travelers forced to land at airports as far away as Paris.
Passengers whose trips had been disrupted vented their frustration on social media. One traveler wrote that she had taken a “tour of every London airport” after stops at Stansted and Heathrow, while a man who said he had been redirected to Paris wondered if his dog would walk itself. It created bedlam at the south terminal of Gatwick, which is about 25 miles south of central London and is regularly rated Europe’s worst airport and one of the worst in the world. Long lines of weary passengers stretched from the check-in counters to the arrivals area of an adjacent building.
The scene at the airport terminals was one of bedlam as stranded passengers unable to make alternative plans with airlines by phone swamped ticket counters in the terminals. Crowds of people slumped over their luggage, refreshing their phone screens in the hopes of getting updated flight information. Others, seeming utterly defeated, appeared to stare off into space. Passengers slumped over their luggage, refreshing their smartphone screens every few minutes for updates. Others sat staring into space, looking utterly defeated.
Erica Perez, a personal trainer bound for Nice, France, for Christmas, was waiting in the easyJet line. She said she had been waiting on hold for more than an hour trying to get through to someone at the budget airline until her battery died. The line at the airport, she said, had not moved in three hours. “Who around here can give me some information?” Gary Hornby, 47, shouted after cursing at an airport staff member. “When the hell are we getting out of here?” he went on, kicking his suitcase.
“How will they rearrange these flights for all these people?” Ms. Perez said. “All the flights tomorrow are already fully booked for Christmas weekend.” Mr. Hornby had been waiting more than four hours to check in to his Norwegian Air flight to Las Vegas. When he eventually got through to the airline on the phone, he was told that his flight might be canceled, but that he should wait at the airport for updates.
Alison Carter, who teaches German, said she was baffled at how such a thing could happen. “This is so typical, the one year I decide to actually go away for Christmas I get stuck in England,” he said.
“How does the airport not have the resources to down the drone?” she said. “What kind of message does this give to terrorists and criminals?” Others were baffled by how poorly prepared the airport seemed.
By the afternoon, many airlines were offering refunds rather than rescheduling flights because of the high demand. “This is a huge security risk. How does the airport not have the resources to down the drone?” asked Alison Carter, 44, a German teacher. “What kind of message does this give to terrorists and criminals?”
As drones’ popularity has increased in recent years, so have reports of the devices’ role in causing airline disruptions. The number of commercial drone licenses in Britain rose to 3,800 in 2017 from 2,500 the year before. The number of drone incidents rose to 93 in 2017 from 71 a year earlier. Technology companies have invented several anti-drone defense systems, but they are relatively new, and airports and government officials are still weighing which to invest in. One system that was recently deployed to stop drug smuggling at an English prison acts as an electronic fence, blocking radio signals around a prison whenever drones are detected.
New laws introduced in Britain in May restrict drones from flying above 400 feet or within a kilometer, or about three-fifths of a mile, of airport boundaries. Violators can be punished with up to five years in prison in Britain. But Richard Gill, the founder and chief executive of Drone Defence, which made the electronic fence, said airports were technologically complex landscapes and officials were studying all the available options. He said the mishap at Gatwick would concentrate people’s minds on the potential dangers.
Since Nov. 30, the owners of drones weighing more than 250 grams, or a bit more than half a pound, have had to register them with the Civil Aviation Authority, and those who fly them must pass an online safety test. Not following these steps can result in fines of as much as 1,000 pounds, or around $1,270. “This hasn’t happened anywhere in the world before,” he said.
This is not the first time an airport has been shut down over the appearance of a drone. Gatwick was closed after drone sightings in July 2017. Airports in Chengdu, China; Dubai, the United Arab Emirates; and Ottawa have also had to shut down because of drone sightings. The system developed by Mr. Bean and Fortem Technologies uses a sophisticated radar system to detect intruder drones, and then sends a drone hunter to pluck them out of the sky or dog fight with them if necessary. The system is already being used to monitor two runways at Salt Lake City International Airport and others, he said.
“I’m somewhat surprised this doesn’t happen more often,” said Ulrike Franke, a policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, who specializes in drones. “The Gatwick case is very extreme because of the length of time.” British laws make it illegal to fly a drone within a kilometer, or about three-fifths of a mile, of airport boundaries. Violators are subject to five years in prison.
Many drones have internal GPS software that prevents pilots from flying them into restricted areas like airports. But Ms. Franke said the systems were imperfect and could be subverted by people who understand their workings. Since Nov. 30, owners of drones weighing more than 250 grams, or a bit more than half a pound, have had to register them with the Civil Aviation Authority, and those who fly them must pass an online safety test. Not following these steps can result in fines of as much as $1,270.
She said the amount of time the drone had been above the airport supported the idea that it was being flown there deliberately. “This very much points to this being planned and not just some rogue hobbyist,” she said. Airports have been shut down before over the appearance of a drone. Gatwick was closed after drone sightings in July 2017. Airports in Chengdu, China; Dubai, the United Arab Emirates; and Ottawa have also had to shut down because of drone sightings.
Ms. Franke noted that most airports have electrical jammers or other anti-drone measures in place to quickly get rid of drone threats. Many drones have internal GPS software that prevents pilots from flying them into restricted areas like airports. But Ulrike Franke, a policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations who specializes in drones, said the systems were imperfect and could be subverted by people who understood their workings.
“The danger is pretty much the same as with birds. A drone may get caught in an engine during take off and landing,” she said. “It’s plastic, metal and lithium batteries that can explode.” And they can ultimately do a lot of damage.
The episodes highlight broader security issues related to drones and nuclear facilities, prisons and even targeted assassinations, she added. In Britain, drones are used for inspections of infrastructure like nuclear power stations, wind turbines and railroads. “The danger is pretty much the same as with birds: A drone may get caught in an engine during take off and landing,” Ms. Franke said. “It’s plastic, metal and lithium batteries that can explode.”
“There is a real worry,” she said.
In an interview with the BBC, Baroness Sugg, Britain’s aviation minister, said the government was already considering tighter regulation of drones.
“Technology in this area is obviously moving incredibly quickly, but we do need to ensure that we’re able to stop such activity in future,” she said.
Gatwick has less traffic than major European airports like Schiphol in Amsterdam, which has six runways, Frankfurt Airport and Charles de Gaulle in Paris, which each have four.
But runway space in London is tight. Heathrow, which has two runways, got approval for a third this year because it is running out of capacity and losing ground to other European hubs.
Britain’s Airports Commission had also looked into a new runway at Gatwick, but concluded that it was better for passengers and freight to expand Heathrow.
Gatwick said it was expecting a record 2.9 million passengers during the Christmas period, with 73,000 passengers expected to travel through the airport on Dec. 23 alone. It could get even busier with 142,000 people booked to fly on Dec. 30.