The drone incident at Gatwick Airport

Regarding the alleged drone incident at Gatwick airport.

The media are alleging the following:

• One, or possibly several, small unmanned aircraft allegedly flew over Gatwick airfield, several times, between the evening of Wednesday 19th of December and the evening of Thursday 20th December.
• No aircraft has been captured.
• No operator has been found.
• No specific motive has become clear (no campaign group or similar has claimed responsibility).
• The aircraft, or multiple aircraft, are reported to be large “industrial types” potentially remaining airborne for an extended period of time – perhaps up to one hour.

It is difficult to comment on the case without knowing the full facts and these will not become available for some time.

What we can do is be very clear that activity such as that reported would be completely illegal. The Air Navigation Order prohibits flying within 1km of the boundary fence of an aerodrome and above 400ft. It is also an offence to endanger an aircraft. The penalty is up to five years in prison.

FPV UK strongly condemns all illegal activity.

It is also important to say that commercially available hobby type drones could not be used in this way. Hobby drone software would simply prevent the aircraft from taking off close to an airport, and force it to land if it is flown towards a no fly zone. The media reports of the drone (large, with extended flight time) also suggest a non-standard drone.

Simon Dale
Chief Executive
FPV UK