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Man and Woman Arrested Over Drone Incursions at Gatwick Airport Married Couple Arrested Over Drone Incursions at Gatwick Airport
(about 3 hours later)
LONDON — A 47-year-old man and a 54-year-old woman were arrested on suspicion of wreaking havoc with a drone at Gatwick Airport, Britain’s second-largest air travel hub, forcing hundreds of planes to be grounded or diverted and tens of thousands of holiday travelers to be delayed. LONDON — British authorities have arrested a married couple on suspicion of wreaking havoc with a drone at Gatwick Airport, forcing hundreds of planes to be grounded or diverted and delaying tens of thousands of holiday travelers.
The two people were detained around 10 p.m. local time Friday on “suspicion of disrupting services of civil aviation aerodrome to endanger or likely to endanger safety of operations or persons,” the Sussex police said in a statement on Saturday. Henry Smith, a member of Parliament whose constituency includes Gatwick Airport, said that law enforcement officials identified the two as Paul Gait, 47, and his wife Elaine Kirk, 54. Local police officials said they had detained a man and a woman of the same ages on Friday night, but they did not name them. They are from Crawley, a town just south of the airport.
Those offenses carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment on conviction, according to the police. The couple are suspected of disrupting civil aviation services and endangering people or operations — offenses that carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, according to the police. They have not been formally charged and are still in custody, but the police did not release further details.
The man and the woman, who were not identified but are both from Crawley, a town just south of the airport, remained in custody on Saturday. The police did not release further details. The suspects had not been formally charged. The incident exposed the vulnerabilities of the airport to outside interference and drew attention to the limitations of security officials responding to such a threat at a peak travel time. Gatwick is Britain’s second-largest air travel hub.
The incident exposed the vulnerabilities of the airport to outside interference and drew attention to the limitations of security officials responding to such a threat at a peak travel time. On Thursday, Assistant Chief Constable Steve Barry of the Sussex police where the airport is located, said the drones appeared to be a “deliberate act to endanger the airfield and aircraft.” But the police said this did not appear to be linked to terrorism.
On Thursday, Assistant Chief Constable Steve Barry of the Sussex police said in a statement that the drones appeared to be a “deliberate act to endanger the airfield and aircraft,” but the police said it did not appear to be linked to terrorism. The drone sightings had forced the cancellation or diversion of more than 1,000 flights over three days, affecting some 140,000 people, officials said. On Saturday, Gatwick warned passengers to expect still more delays and cancellations and to check their flight status before going to the airport.
The drone sightings had forced the cancellation or diversion of more than 1,000 flights over three days, affecting 140,000 people, officials said. On Saturday, Gatwick warned passengers to expect still more delays and cancellations and to check their flight status before traveling to the airport. Posts on Mr. Gait’s Facebook page suggest he is a drone hobbyist, and they include several photos of remote controlled helicopters. Mr. Smith, the member of Parliament, said that information raised the prospect that someone who flew drones for fun was able to breach the airport’s security and ground flights for more than 24 hours. But he cautioned that Mr. Gait and Ms. Kirk were still only suspects at this point.
Gatwick Airport, which has a single runway about 25 miles south of Central London, has been rated among the worst in Europe and the world in quality and punctuality surveys. But it is one of the busiest on the continent, and the drone incursions proved to be a challenge for airport officials, with fliers and others questioning how the airport shutdown was handled. “The fact that with only a limited degree of sophistication, with what seems to be a relatively amateur attack, someone was able to take out a major piece of national infrastructure is a major concern,” Mr. Smith said.
The first drone sighting occurred around 9 p.m. on Wednesday, and within 48 hours, the airport runway had been buzzed more than 40 times, forcing officials to shut down and reopen the airport several times. It was unclear if the activity involved one drone, or more. “What it increasingly appears to be is hobbyists who for whatever reason decided it would be a smart thing to do to disrupt a major piece of transport,” Mr. Smith said.
Officials scrambled to find solutions, considering ideas such as using police sharp shooters to bring down the devices, but that was deemed to be too dangerous. By Thursday night, the British armed forces were called in to try to secure the airspace. He said he had raised concerns in Parliament as far back as 18 months ago about drone security at Gatwick. Mr. Smith said the airport had an electronic fence, but that it could easily be circumvented by a drone operator.
The Royal Air Force would not confirm what equipment was used, but news reports suggested it was the same system used to secure the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at Windsor Castle in May. “While some measures have come,” he said, “I would argue not enough, and not swiftly enough either.”
After the pair’s arrest, the Sussex police said it would “continue to build resilience to detect and mitigate further incursions from drones,” but did not specify what those preventive measures would be. The chaos also drew scrutiny of Britain’s policy on the growing number of drone users in the country, which has been slow to adopt a drone registry, analysts say. The United States Federal Aviation Administration has required drone operators to register since 2015. In Britain, the authorities will begin similar registrations in November of next year.
After three days of disruption, the airport began steady flights once again about 6 p.m. Friday, and hoped to run a full schedule of carrying about 120,000 passengers on more than 750 flights on Saturday, the BBC reported. British elected leaders said the government could also do more to restrict drones near airports, widening the no-fly zone, which is now one kilometer, or three-fifths of a mile.
The disruption at Gatwick rippled around the world, with passengers forced to find accommodation or wait on long lines to know if they would be able to fly home for the holidays. Gatwick Airport, which has a single runway about 25 miles south of central London, has been rated among the worst in Europe and the world in quality and punctuality surveys. But it is one of the busiest on the Continent.
Britain’s transport secretary, Chris Grayling, acknowledged that the government needed to speed up its response. “We’re going to have to learn very quickly from what’s happened,” he said in an interview with the BBC on Friday. The first drone sighting was around 9 p.m. on Wednesday and within 48 hours, the runway had been buzzed more than 40 times, forcing officials to shut down and reopen the airport several times. It was unclear whether more than one drone was involved.
Officials scrambled to find solutions and even considered using police sharpshooters to bring down the devices, but that was deemed too dangerous. By Thursday night, the British armed forces were called in to secure the airspace.
After the arrests, the police said they would “continue to build resilience to detect and mitigate further incursions from drones,” but did not specify what those measures might be.
The disruption at Gatwick rippled around the world, with passengers forced to find accommodation or wait in long lines to know if they would be able to fly home for the holidays.
Britain’s transport secretary, Chris Grayling, acknowledged that the government needed to speed up its response.
“We’re going to have to learn very quickly from what’s happened,” he said in an interview with the BBC on Friday.
Still, the government’s handling of the episode has drawn intense criticism.Still, the government’s handling of the episode has drawn intense criticism.
Richard Dannatt, a member of the House of Lords and a former head of the British Army, called it a “national embarrassment” in a Saturday morning interview with the London radio station LBC.Richard Dannatt, a member of the House of Lords and a former head of the British Army, called it a “national embarrassment” in a Saturday morning interview with the London radio station LBC.
“We have a range of capabilities that can go a long way to observing, detecting, jamming the frequency,” Lord Dannatt said, before noting that the military could also have shot down the device. “There really isn’t a reason why we should not have identified and shot these down a few days ago.”“We have a range of capabilities that can go a long way to observing, detecting, jamming the frequency,” Lord Dannatt said, before noting that the military could also have shot down the device. “There really isn’t a reason why we should not have identified and shot these down a few days ago.”
The chaos also drew scrutiny to Britain’s policy on the growing number of drone users in the country, which has been slow to adopt a drone registry, analysts say. The United States Federal Aviation Administration has required drone operators to register since 2015, allowing the devices to be identified.
In Britain, the authorities will begin similar registrations from November next year.