A drone sighting caused the airport to close for two days in 2018, but despite a lengthy police investigation, no culprit was ever found. So what exactly did people see in the Sussex sky?
At the time, there was no clear guidance on what an airport should do in the event of a drone incursion, accidental or hostile, so closing the airport was a reasonable decision. “It’s not an industry that can take a flippant view about any threat to safety, and there can be a high price for that,” said John Strickland, the aviation consultant.
But since Gatwick, a lot of bright people have focused on how to solve this problem,” says Richard Gill, CEO of Drone Defence, a security consultancy that provides counter-drone technology to governments and big corporations. This view is shared across the industry. “While we may never know what really happened at Gatwick,” says Adam Lisberg, the corporate communications director at drone manufacturer DJI, “it was the event that forced the aviation and drone industries around the world to find solutions so that a single drone sighting doesn’t close down an airport.”...more
