Tag Archives: Gatwick closure

A new kind of terrorism

Reading Time: 2 minutes

About 120 thousand passengers turned out to be blocked at the London Gatwick airport for more than one day. The only runway of the airfield was closed on the evening of December 19 after two unmanned aerial vehicles were noticed in the sky above it.

Police and military are trying to find the person who launches drones over the airport. The perpetrator of this incident will face up to 5 years in prison because UK laws prohibit unmanned aircraft from approaching the airport at a distance of less than one kilometer. Authorities fear that drones may collide with airplanes, for example, hitting a jet engine or windshield. The police believe that the aircraft invaded the territory of the airport to thwart flights during the peak period before Christmas and New Year.

In recent years, pilots have repeatedly reported close encounters with drones. In 2017, Gatwick Airport was closed for a short time due to a flying drone. In 2016, the Dubai International Airport was temporarily closed due to a drone.

Although the police still have no reason to assume that this accident is related to terrorism, it is already becoming clear that a new type of terrorism has been born – drone terrorism. Not in the sense of delivering explosives by a drone, but in the sense of disrupting the normal life of people, as in the case of telephone terrorism, when there are no victims, but concerts are frustrated, shopping centers or office buildings are evacuated. As in the case of telephone terrorism, prohibited items are not used, but the lives of many thousands of people are effectively disturbed: in the Gatwick incident, Christmas plans of many people were broken because of the little drone. I do not want to think about what example was given to many people who enjoy destroying the lives of others.

 

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-46632892

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-sussex-46643173

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/gatwick-drone-disruption-pair-arrested-over-airport-chaos-released-without-charge-a4024531.html

www.nytimes.com/2018/12/23/world/europe/gatwick-airport-drones.html

Tagged , , ,