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Old Dec 20, 2018, 5:24 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
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.

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Current list of cancelled and diverted services
Post 96 and Post 132 and Post 184
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LGW closed due to drone activity

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Old Dec 23, 2018, 10:22 am
  #616  
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Originally Posted by lcylocal


If this turns out to be the case will the CAA’s view on EU261 extraordinary circumstances change?
No, because whether genuinely required or not the airport was closed, I imagine from conversations with BA staff almost exclusively on police advice rather than as a decision from GAL, and that meant everything was completely outside the control of all the airlines. EC261 does not apply to airport operators.
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Old Dec 23, 2018, 11:06 am
  #617  
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Originally Posted by airmanofthequeen
Det Ch Supt Jason Tingley said it was "a working assumption" the device could be connected to their investigation, but officers were keeping "an open mind"."We are also going through many reports of sightings of drone activity over the last few days," he said."We are meticulously going through that information to see if that produces any other further lines of inquiry, and also where we may focus our efforts in terms of house-to-house inquiries, CCTV footage, and any other information that will help us work through this investigation."He added there was "always a possibility that there may not have been any genuine drone activity in the first place"

Oh dear. This could get embarrassing for a few people....

Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-46665615
Well, that would explain why there were no videos or pictures of the drones!
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Old Dec 23, 2018, 11:09 am
  #618  
 
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Originally Posted by DYKWIA
Well, that would explain why there were no videos or pictures of the drones!
I've seen multiple videos and pictures of potential drones on SM....!
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Old Dec 23, 2018, 11:15 am
  #619  
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Originally Posted by Orange.Man
I've seen multiple videos and pictures of potential drones on SM....!
Another quote from the plod :-

"He said there was no available footage of the drones and police were relying on witness accounts."
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Old Dec 23, 2018, 11:17 am
  #620  
 
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Originally Posted by DYKWIA
Another quote from the plod :-

"He said there was no available footage of the drones and police were relying on witness accounts."
Well give me the contact details and I'll happily send it all to him.
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Old Dec 23, 2018, 11:18 am
  #621  
 
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Wait, what? Possibly NO drone activity? That is just completely mad.
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Old Dec 23, 2018, 11:26 am
  #622  
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This is becoming truly surreal - and sadly, surreal seems to be more than a one off in the country at the moment... Not sure what to think or say.
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Old Dec 23, 2018, 11:30 am
  #623  
 
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Originally Posted by cruisr
Wait, what? Possibly NO drone activity? That is just completely mad.
The tin hats will start to emerge, what about all those 'confirmed' sightings?
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Old Dec 23, 2018, 11:34 am
  #624  
 
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Well living in Sussex I recently had some engagement with Sussex Police and it took me almost an hour to get through on the phone to 101 (twice). Then I read their complaints volume had gone up by 21% in the last year when nationally it had gone down by 7%.

Add in a Transport Secretary who narrowly survived a confidence vote after his mismanagement of the railways and I can see why Willie Walsh might not be too encouraged by things here.
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Old Dec 23, 2018, 11:46 am
  #625  
 
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Originally Posted by Orange.Man
Well give me the contact details and I'll happily send it all to him.
So you personally can confirm 100% there were drones flying over the runway at Gatwick? And you have proof of this?

The only video I seen of a drone was of a random one in a random sky, no indication it was at Gatwick by identifying features in the backdrop. Could have been Guyana or Guernsey for all what the footage showed
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Old Dec 23, 2018, 12:05 pm
  #626  
 
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So where did the "industrial grade drone" comment come from?

This must have started from the Chinese plane that landed last!
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Old Dec 23, 2018, 1:11 pm
  #627  
 
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Originally Posted by DYKWIA
Another quote from the plod :-

"He said there was no available footage of the drones and police were relying on witness accounts."
Eyewitness accounts can be very mistaken. My local airport was shut down this week on someone reporting an "active shooter". Turns out instead of someone with a rifle it was someone checking in a clarinet. Notwithstanding that it's perfectly legal to check firearms as hold baggage and reasonably common here in hunting season.

In this case since rifle = clarinet, I wonder if the LGW drone was a pigeon?
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Old Dec 23, 2018, 1:31 pm
  #628  
 
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These are not the drones you’re looking for 😒
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Old Dec 23, 2018, 1:52 pm
  #629  
 
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I'm far from a conspiracy theorist but still think there's something that's not being reported about the drone issue. It doesn't all add up to me.

My personal hypothesis that extortion was involved or that there's a DSMA-Notice in place that's preventing the full story from being reported to us.
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Old Dec 23, 2018, 3:43 pm
  #630  
 
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Originally Posted by DaveS
Indeed, but I have not seen anything that says the arrested man was the cyclist seen packing a drone away. This is a very good example of why someone who has been arrested should not be named. The gutter press deserve to take a beating over this.
The police deserve that beating. As far as I can tell they've arrested some people who happened to be nearby and released their names to the press. All in an effort to look like they aren't literally clueless.
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