Sussex Police screwed up with their awful press release regarding possibility of no drone ever being there, but it's comical to see the Daily Mail flap and try to turn all the attention on the police when they smeared the couple's faces all over their website soon after their arrests. There's a serious issue with trial by media in this country and outlets like the DM need to be reigned in. That being said Chief Superintendent Jason Tingley needs a slap for that awful press release too. Yes the media took it out of context but he should've realised how it'd come across.
Drones over gatwick..
- Thread starter Screeeech
- Start date
Also with just about everyone having a camera on there mobile phone and the airport being completely packed you would expected there to be hundreds of pictures & video's of this drone or drones posted on the net
And I not seen one picture or video of it
Also with just about everyone having a camera on there mobile phone and the airport being completely packed you would expected there to be hundreds of pictures & video's of this drone or drones posted on the net
And I not seen one picture or video of it
To be fair the airport is pretty big (~1.5x2.5 miles) and public access areas are relatively restricted in how much of the entire layout is viewable.
Associate
I think the media might be a little worried about this. I haven't seen the papers today but i did notice, that yesterday, the bbc APP was showing the story about the couple bing released without charge.
The story was at the top of the app all day even though other stories were breaking.
After thinking about am guessing it would also be pretty much impossible to get a shoot of a tiny drone that a long way away on a mobile phone camera..
It would most likely just show up as a small black dot in the picture..
Depends a lot on the model and operator - the general public as a generalisation don't tend to be the best users of camera equipment. My Note 4 has a reasonable digital zoom and high enough native sensor resolution you can get some sort of image at quite a distance if you know what you are doing and there are other phones better suited to it.
It would depend a lot on what the drone was doing - if it was dipping on and off the perimeter half-way down the runway its unlikely any general public with a camera/phone would have been within 200-300 meters of it at best - if it really was buzzing the tower though you'd have thought it was close enough someone got something.
Soldato
Are plane spotters a thing? I know you used to get train spotters and I kid you not I once actually saw a sign saying "No bus spotters beyond this point". Rocket launches have people turn up to view them. I just wonder if there are some friendly people in anoraks who would have witnessed Nessie the drone?
Most times I've been past the major airports there are atleast 2-3 people at the end of the runway - but they mostly stick to one end. Though often they have camera equipment with proper optical zooms which can resolve the other end of the runway even fine. Sometimes it can be quite busy with plane spotters.
EDIT: From a quick look on googlemaps Gatwick doesn't seem to be very amenable for plane spotters from the roads around compared to some other places.
EDIT2: Found this https://www.spotterguide.net/planespotting/europe/united-kingdom/london-gatwick-lgw-egkk/ doesn't seem like Gatwick is a good spot for watching planes.
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67 official reports from a mixture of passengers, airport staff and police
Man of Honour
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Haha, that couple are receiving medical care for their ‘ordeal’. Compensation claim is a go! The police are screwed.
Associate
So are the trashy newspapers and rightly so.
Take them to the cleaners.
Take them to the cleaners.
I remember flying from Gatwick a while ago. (I’m pretty sure it was Gatwick?!) There was an outside observation area where you went up on a roof/terrace and could watch the planes taking off and landing. There were a few people with cameras there but I honestly can’t remember if it was pre or post security. As in if it was post, only flyers rather than spotters would be able to take photos. If this area still exists or indeed I have the right airport you would’ve thought they may have been better placed to get a photo of said drones?
Soldato
I went to an airporrt years ago. Either Heathrow or Gatwick and remember this. I’m talking like 20 years ago. It was deffo pre security cos i watched my grandfather fly off to america lol
Soldato
If the police haven't seen it themselves how do they know a crime as been committed?
They had no grounds for arrest as they didn't prove their was an actual crime to be suspicious of.
I suspect this medical care thing is the couple setting up claims against the media and maybe the police.
They had no grounds for arrest as they didn't prove their was an actual crime to be suspicious of.
I suspect this medical care thing is the couple setting up claims against the media and maybe the police.
Haha! My flight was in 96. And it’s definitely one of those two yes. (Probably Heathrow now I’ve said it!
)If they are indeed innocent hopefully they are successful and absolutely shaft the media.
Soldato
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Whoever "leaked" their details to the press, should be fired to be honest and the police should be investigating the people who "tipped" them off to that couple
Hillsborough style cover up definitely in operation today, at least nobody died this time... if it came out that there was no drone there'd probably be a few thousand lawsuits from all of the inconvenienced travellers.
Ahh yes, Make it worse.
Cool days eh.
A person who tips off the police under the guise of thinking it was them, is never going to be investigated (this would be a further waste of police time). We live in a world where you're supposed to tip off the police if someone has a slightly more flashy car than you'd expect.