Take two

Gatwick's runway has been shut since Wednesday night because devices have been repeatedly flown over the airfield.

It comes as Easyjet has cancelled all of its flights from Gatwick for the rest of the day.

The airline, the biggest operator at the airport, said there was "no indication" when Gatwick would reopen.

Tens of thousands of passengers on several airlines have been disrupted by drones flying over the airport.

In a tweet, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson had confirmed the military deployment.

He said: "The armed forces have a range of unique capabilities and this isn't something we would usually deploy but we are there to assist and do everything we can so that they are in a position to open the airport at the earliest opportunity."

Full story here.

Hey, look at that!

Not only is Gatwick the UK's #2 airport, with around 1000 flights a day, especially starting tomorrow - the first day of school Christmas break - but it's a major mail transit centre, too.

Whoever is found responsible for this is really going to have some explaining to do - the general public is talking about terrorism. Crowding 25,000 pissed-off travellers inot one admittedly large and complex set of terminals and lighting up a device would cause carnage.

It's either some geeky kid saying 'wow lookit what I've done', or it's a bunch of urban terrorists trying for a practice run. Either way, it's going to be ended painfully for the perp or perps.

TBH I'm aamazed that country like the UK, with so many world-class shotgunners, hasn't done the job already.

quote:

Originally posted by tacfoley:
TBH I'm aamazed that country like the UK, with so many world-class shotgunners, hasn't done the job already.

^^^^^^^^^^^^
From what I understand the Royal family has a shoot the day after Christmas. This might be a good time to let them get a little practice in.

What do you use on drones? Number 4 lead seems like a good place to start. Maybe number 2s.

Who here knows how "Gatwick" is pronounced?

Hint...it's NOT Gat-Wick

"He said police had not wanted to shoot the devices down because of the risk from stray bullets"

Apparently no wing shooters could be found. A sprinkling of shot gun pellets would be too dangerous compared to hitting a drone at 170 mph and 150 feet off the approach.

Sometimes I think the UK leadership has lost the ability to think.

RMD

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
Who here knows how "Gatwick" is pronounced?

Hint...it's NOT Gat-Wick

Actually, it is.

Gat - wick. Both syllables at the same level of tone/emphasis.

I bet you're thinking of the London borough of Chiswick - now THAT is pronounced 'Chizzik'.

quote:

Originally posted by tacfoley:

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
Who here knows how "Gatwick" is pronounced?

Hint...it's NOT Gat-Wick

Actually, it is.

Gat - wick. Both syllables at the same level of tone/emphasis.

I bet you're thinking of the London borough of Chiswick - now THAT is pronounced 'Chizzik'.

Huh. I could gave sworn it was "Gattick"

Maybe I'm mixing up my place names.

If am going pump city on a drone, I will use a BB goose load.
Do you have to use steel shot on drones?
All yuks aside, I think it is only a matter of time until weapon bearing drones become a widespread and credible threat. I did read that they have been used to convey contraband into prisons.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
What do you use on drones? Number 4 lead seems like a good place to start. Maybe number 2s.

I'm thinking Number 5's, they work well on a rooster...

I hope they find those responsible for the drones and let everyone inconvenienced by their shenanigans line up and take turns inflicting pain...my wife's flight from MCO to LGW has been delayed 6 hrs due to this fiasco as the incoming plane had to be diverted to now depart out of Heathrow...

quote:

Originally posted by sigmoid:

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
What do you use on drones? Number 4 lead seems like a good place to start. Maybe number 2s.

I'm thinking Number 5's, they work well on a rooster...

I remember a few years back a group of environazis were terrorizing a large gun club who had a pigeon/quail shoot by taking license plate pics and publishing names (i.e. PC shaming). They upped the ante with an octocopter drone w/ cameras that cost thousands and thousands of dollars and were planning to publish pics of hunters. The last shot it ever took was of a group of hunters opening up on it. Whatever they used was effective because they blasted it out of the sky and the recovered drone was FUBAR'd.

They've got 'top men' on it. One in the group on the right appears to have a shotgun.

Although they'd probably be better off to just get 5-10 of the top trap-n-skeet shooters and let them go to town.

Hmmm... Is that a low bid BMW? Must be nice.

https://youtu.be/b5DEg2qZzkU?t=16

Drone-Catching eagles are the ONLY way to go...and they're cool doing it!!!

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
What do you use on drones? Number 4 lead seems like a good place to start. Maybe number 2s.

The right tool for the right job


https://www.budk.com/12-Gauge-...efense--3-Pack-35975

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
What do you use on drones? Number 4 lead seems like a good place to start. Maybe number 2s.

They are not focusing on the root of the problem - the Operators.

I've shot and missed a lot of ducks and given the size of Gatwick you'd have to have whole lot of shotguns. And you'd have to have a pretty dumb drone operator to run it at low altitude. The main runway is like 2 miles long. So the guy with a shotgun near the BMW is not likely to do much no matter what kind of shot he has...