On the evening of December 19 local time, Gatwick Airport in London intercepted two jets, prompting the planes to take off and land, and the planes were forced to close. Gatwick Airport is said to be located 43 km south of London and is the second largest airport in the UK. At 9:00 p.m. local time on the 19th, the airport suddenly found two industrial-grade drones that might interfere with the takeoff and landing of the aircraft, and then the airport closed the runway. The airport reopened at 3 am on the 20th. After 45 minutes, the airport was again disturbed by drones, and authorities subsequently announced the closure of the airport.
Woodrow, head of operations at Gatwick Airport in the UK, said the airport will remain closed until drones are intercepted. Currently, the London police have sent 20 police forces to search for drone controllers and have initially avoided so-called terrorist attacks. Police believe this is a deliberate intervention in the airport.
Airport Police Chief Bolton Shuo said that when the police looked for a drone controller, the drone disappeared every time it approached the target. When the airport reopens, drones will appear near the airport runway. Police analysts believe that this was an intentional intervention in the airport incident.
According to the report, this is the peak period for tourists on Christmas Eve. At twentieth local time, under the intervention of drones, 760 flights from Gatwick Airport in the UK took off and landed, and more than 110,000 passengers were disrupted. About 10,000 passengers were forced to stay at the airport.
According to British law, no drone can be released within 1 km from the airport, and those who violate the rules will be sentenced to a maximum of 5 years in prison. Gatwick Airport requires passengers to confirm that the flight can operate normally before going to the airport for check-in. The airport’s official website apologises to all affected passengers and stresses the importance of protecting passengers and flight safety.
Due to disturbances caused by drones, most flights currently serving Gatwick Airport have been relocated to other cities in the UK, with some flights temporarily parked at airports in countries such as France and the United States-Low
To prevent this serious situation from happening again, tools such as drone jammer should be used to handle drones, which can block drone signals at specific frequencies and turn them off.