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Unifoxos - they've made of light lithium, as opposed to heavy water.

During my last working holiday in Japan I noticed drones being used to spray rice paddies. Obviously fairly large drones; I'd estimate them to be at least 2 metres in span.

Also got a slight scare one morning when climbing through 800' with a Glider on tow and sighted a large drone at my altitude, around 400 meters away in my 2 o clock.

I reported it to my Boss on the VHF and from what I later heard, 'action was swiftly taken!'

What I've read about them in agriculture, the main benefit is supposed to be with various infrared (or wossit) cameras that help to detect plant infections and pests, so that it's possible to 'target' them very precisely and as soon as they appear.

They are also used to look over crops and see how the yield is and no patches exist
in areas that would otherwise require walking out into the middle of a big paddock.

This third world country has just brought in legislation that drones and their operators are to be licenced and registered whilst the UK is still just talking about it.

It is about 10 BWP to the Euro, so not expensive. Mind you, neither is the fine! They do however take it off you so that they can play with it.

Eagles;a hazard to Drones!

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-40024827

Another incident this evening closed LGW causing several diversions, disrupting air traffic and causing inconvenience and expense to airlines and passengers. An easyJet flight declared an emergency and squawked 7700.

I hope the drone operator can be traced and fined an amount at least equivalent to the cost of the disruption. Cutting his hands and nuts off might also serve as a deterrent to others.

Has the Daily Wail got hold of this story yet?

Hundreds of terrified passengers aboard an Easi-jet Boeing Jumbo Airbus diced with death as a fully laden drone brushed wingtips with the aircraft, causing it to veer off course and forcing it to dive to make an emergency landing at Stanstead Airport. Passengers on their way home from the Greek island resort of Naples screamed in terror as the drone circled their aircraft whilst the heroic captain wrestled with the controls to avoid a collision.
Fortunately it was a Sunday evening so the nearby schools and shopping centres were closed, potentially saving thousands of lives.



An Easi-jet Jumbo Airbus similar to the one in today's incident.
(File Photo.)

And we haven't even started to see the Terrorist potential of the bloody things yet. 'tho I don't suppose they will appeal to the suicide bombers ?

We use drones every day on the farm.

Are you close to a major airport?
If not, then your comment serves only to highlight the good and appropriate use of drones.

Drones are a menace to aviation, and I fear that it is only a matter of time before one is used as a weapon in a terrorist attack.

Lets hope that this conviction serves as a warning to all the potential idiots out there who think it's fun flying your drone around aircraft and
airports.https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... drone.html

Has it been considered to make it compulsory to fit a transponder to the larger higher performance drones?

Chaos at Gatwick as ‘drone spotted near the airport’ SHUTS the runway causing planes to abort landings and divert

Gatwick Airport suffered serious delays tonight after reports of a drone operating in the area were passed to air traffic control.

A large number of aircraft were forced into holding patterns while the aerodrome and surrounding areas were searched for the drone.

A police helicopter was sent to the scene in an effort to track down the drone and its operator.

The things are a major menace. Not only could they bring down an aircraft, even if by accident, but I fear that the next major terrorist attack will use drones to distribute nerve gas or similar.

I was booked on a flight out of LGW this evening. Fortuitously my plans changed and I was in the Midlands and changed to a LTN flight. LTN is a craphole but we got out a few minutes ahead of schedule. Thank you EZY.

Gatwick Airport: Drone sightings halt flights

Flights at Gatwick Airport have been suspended amid reports of drones being flown over the airfield.

Passengers faced delays and diversions after two of the unmanned devices were spotted near a runway.

Those due to take off said their planes were stuck on the Tarmac, while some due to land at Gatwick said their flights were redirected to airports hundreds of miles away.

The airport warned the disruption could continue into Thursday.

A spokesman confirmed there were no flights in or out of the airport, and that it was working with Sussex Police to investigate the drone sightings.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-sussex-46623754

Need a technical solution to drone incursions, NOW. Whilst I admit they are physically small and have minimal detectable EMF footprint, there must be some way, be it laser or similar of picking them up. With high-power lasers to shoot them down.

Alison

From LGW website:

Thursday 20 December: 08.00

Flights to and from Gatwick are currently suspended while we investigate reports of drones flying close to our airfield.

We advise anyone scheduled to fly from Gatwick not to travel to the airport without checking the status of your flight with your airline.

We apologise to any affected passengers for this inconvenience but the safety of our passengers and all staff is our priority.

All.flights cxld, thousands of people's journeys ruined, massive and probably irrecoverable cost to airlines, at least they won't have to pay EU261.

The maximum penalty for the criminals or terrorists who did this is 5 years. What a joke. It should be hard labour for life. Cleaning toilets at the airport using their bare hands perhaps.

I put my hands up to owning a DJI Phantom. I only use it for photographic/filming purposes and rarely above 200ft - limited to 400ft by law and of course I don't fly it anywhere near an airport. Even with 20 Police units looking for the Gatwick perpetrators it's going to be difficult to find them. With Litchi software I can pre-program my Phantom with waypoint routing, speed, altitude, camera angle and direction. Unless they can be caught whilst launching or recovering the drone it will be nigh on possible to find them - they don't have to have the controller in their hands except at that time. I haven't tried it but I think I can also program an automatic take off and landing at a pre-determined spot with my Litchi software.

One thing that needs doing - drones need to be hard programmed with an ID that they continuously transmit, or else be fitted with an ID transponder that reacts to interrogation. Drones should only be available from licensed retailers who would be under a legal obligation to get identification and address details from the purchaser. This wouldn't be perfect as anyone could easily provide false details and of course there are those capable of bypassing the ID setup. You have to start somewhere though.

This Gatwick incident is sadly going to spawn copycat incidents elsewhere.

According to one report at least one of the ?4? 'drones' is said to be a 'heavy industrial unit' and not a 'recreational' one. It now smacks of a major disruptive effort - possibly by the group in opposition to the LGW 'second runway'/'noise' issue?

What I cannot understand is how they know the drones are there? If they are somehow' visible' to either eye or radar then surely they can be tracked. Since they only have around 25 mins endurance, they must be taking off and landing very frequently to maintain a 4-ship presence. I would have thought a suitable spread of (limited numbers) 'plod' around the area should work. Daylight obviously brings its advantage.

I believe that the larger ones have a couple of hours autonomy in flight.

I don't see the problem in shooting them down, apparently the danger of 'stray bullets' has been used as the excuse, but bullets being fired upwards surely present little risk even when falling back to earth, or am I missing (pardon the pun) something here?

I know that the UKCAA are working on stricter legislation, as usual too little too late.

Even a couple of hours for 4 drones over many hours means a lot of up and down! I assume a 'larger' drone would show on radar.

Boac wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 20, 2018 10:18 am

........What I cannot understand is how they know the drones are there? If they are somehow' visible' to either eye or radar then surely they can be tracked......

My Phantom has 4 quite high intensity lights, two red and two green to aid orientation when controlling manually. The majority will have similar ones.