Dec 20, 2018, 5:24 am
Last edit by: Canarsie
Travelling to of from London Gatwick 21 December 2018
All LGW services operated on Friday with 2 exceptions (BA2758/0 to AMS and back; BA2938/9 EDI and back). Many flights were heavily delayed.
List of inbound BA diversions from latest closure is in post 463
Incomplete list of inbound cancellations for Friday 21 December is here in post 298.
Current customer guidelines in this post 344 (you can rebook free of charge to 5 January and reroute via LHR/LCY). Try rebooking via the App if you can, otherwise you need to telephone BA.
Background
Gatwick Airport was closed at 21:03 on Wednesday 19 December following reports of drones flying over the airfield. Sightings have continued throughout Thursday 20 December requiring the airport to remain closed. Gatwick Airport advising all passengers to check the status of their flights before travelling to the airport. Gatwick airport was further closed on Friday 21 December from 17:00 until 18:25 at which time normal operations resumed after suspected drone sightings.
Previous updates
Current list of cancelled and diverted services
Post 96 and Post 132 and Post 184
All LGW services operated on Friday with 2 exceptions (BA2758/0 to AMS and back; BA2938/9 EDI and back). Many flights were heavily delayed.
List of inbound BA diversions from latest closure is in post 463
Incomplete list of inbound cancellations for Friday 21 December is here in post 298.
Current customer guidelines in this post 344 (you can rebook free of charge to 5 January and reroute via LHR/LCY). Try rebooking via the App if you can, otherwise you need to telephone BA.
Background
Gatwick Airport was closed at 21:03 on Wednesday 19 December following reports of drones flying over the airfield. Sightings have continued throughout Thursday 20 December requiring the airport to remain closed. Gatwick Airport advising all passengers to check the status of their flights before travelling to the airport. Gatwick airport was further closed on Friday 21 December from 17:00 until 18:25 at which time normal operations resumed after suspected drone sightings.
Previous updates
Current list of cancelled and diverted services
Post 96 and Post 132 and Post 184
LGW closed due to drone activity
Dec 20, 2018, 4:57 pm
#393
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: YYC
Programs: BA bronze, Aeroplan peon
Posts: 4,744
Serious question: Given that aircraft engines are designed to withstand bird ingestion of something goose sized with hard bones, could it also withstand ingestion of a hobbyist sized drone? Those are mostly plastic and I would think the plastic would shatter/break apart on ingestion, in a similar manner to goose bones. Be interesting to know if that becomes part of the RR/GE test procedure.
Or to phrase it another way, is it known if ingestion of a small/medium sized drone is guaranteed fatal to an aircraft engine?
Or to phrase it another way, is it known if ingestion of a small/medium sized drone is guaranteed fatal to an aircraft engine?
Dec 20, 2018, 5:11 pm
#394
Join Date: May 2006
Location: 5 miles from EMA
Programs: BD, BAEC Pleb, VS Pleb, Accor Pleb, HHonors Gold, Big White Season Pass
Posts: 5,904
It seems that you are looking at something a tad bigger than a DJI Mavic here.
I think if you google the incident where a commercial drone crashed in an FIS World Cup Slalom race nearly killing Marcel Hirscher, I doubt whether a drone of that size would leave much of an engine intact.
I think if you google the incident where a commercial drone crashed in an FIS World Cup Slalom race nearly killing Marcel Hirscher, I doubt whether a drone of that size would leave much of an engine intact.
Dec 20, 2018, 10:51 pm
#398
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Brexile in ADB
Programs: BA, TK, HHonours, Le Club, Best Western Rewards
Posts: 7,067
Not wishing to stray into OMNI territory but Liz Truss once suggested that barking dogs deterred drones from prisons (no not something she said while on a night out while drunk, this was in the HoC) which may explain the effectiveness of the response thus far.
Dec 20, 2018, 11:31 pm
#401
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Switzerland
Programs: AY+ Platinum, SK Gold, BAEC Silver, airbaltic VIP, Radisson VIP
Posts: 6,529
I am glad for the affected travelers that flights resume.
What I find odd is that there is no news regarding the drone operator(s). Have they been apprehended or did the authorities fail to find them? There must be more to the story.
What I find odd is that there is no news regarding the drone operator(s). Have they been apprehended or did the authorities fail to find them? There must be more to the story.
Dec 20, 2018, 11:46 pm
#402
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: UK
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 2,422
”Police have so far failed to locate the device or its pilot, but are considering plans to shoot it down.”
Dec 20, 2018, 11:49 pm
#403
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Switzerland
Programs: AY+ Platinum, SK Gold, BAEC Silver, airbaltic VIP, Radisson VIP
Posts: 6,529
Dec 20, 2018, 11:54 pm
#404
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: SNA
Programs: AA EXP, UA 1K (until it expires then never again), *wood Plat, Marriott Gold
Posts: 9,239
This is just insane, When/if the catch the asshat(s) who did this I hope they are jailed for quite a long time. I also wonder how Ryan Air sending LGW flights to STN and Virgin to LHR will affect opperations at those airports as LHR isn't know for excess capacity...speaking of LHR thank your favorite deity they didn't pull this nonsense there as I could only imagine the disruption to global travel.
Dec 21, 2018, 12:02 am
#405
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: UK
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 2,422
From that BBC article it appears that yesterday they were trying to get the operator and the assumption is that they had opportunities to shoot it down. For reasons unknown they didn’t do that yesterday but will probably do it today.