Gatwick Airport drone incident


Between 19 and 21 December 2018, hundreds of flights were cancelled at Gatwick Airport near London, England, following reports of drone sightings close to the runway. With 140,000 passengers and 1,000 flights affected, it was the biggest disruption at Gatwick since its closure following the 2010 volcano eruptions in Iceland.
On 21 December, Sussex Police arrested two people who lived near the airport. They were cleared of any involvement and released without charge two days later, subsequently being awarded compensation for their wrongful arrest and false imprisonment. In April 2019, Sussex Police said the disruption could have been an inside job.

Events

After reported sightings of drones near Gatwick Airport, thousands of passengers were left stranded owing to flight cancellations; a number of flights diverted to other airports. Police believed a drone operator had intentionally disrupted flights, as whenever the runway was about to re-open, drone sightings were reported again. No act of terrorism was suspected. Police suspected that any drone would have been of an "industrial" class.
The military were deployed on 20 December following a request from Sussex Police for help to end the unprecedented situation. Authorities later stated that the suspected drone operator was within a radius of the airport. At 23:30 on 20 December, the airport confirmed the runway would remain closed and all flights were cancelled for the rest of the evening because of continued reported sightings. It reopened with limited capacity at around 06:00 on 21 December.
At 09:30 on 21 December, Gatwick Airport chief operating officer Chris Woodroofe described the airport as operating at "almost normal runway conditions", and said it would be "back to normal" by the end of the day. At 17:30, the runway was closed again due to a suspected drone sighting, before being reopened at 18:23.
There were delays to some scheduled flights on 22 December, resulting from the displacement of crews and aircraft.
The RAF withdrew on 3 January 2019 after Gatwick spent £5 million on a system to prevent attacks. During the crisis, it had been reported that the Army had been deployed and would be using the Drone Dome – an Israeli-developed counter UAS system – at Gatwick. The Ministry of Defence later confirmed that the RAF Regiment had been deployed and were using an alternative system as the Israeli one had not yet been delivered.
In total, the incident diverted or cancelled approximately 1,000 flights, affecting around 140,000 passengers.

Investigation

The police received 92 sightings of a drone from "credible people". No videos or photographs of the drone were handed to the police. The lead investigator from Sussex Police questioned whether there had been a drone at all. Giles York, Chief Constable, later said police thought that original sightings were of an unauthorised drone, but it was possible that later sightings may have been of a drone used by Sussex Police. Gatwick Airport offered a £50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the perpetrators.

Arrests

A couple from Crawley, less than two miles from Gatwick Airport, were arrested on 21 December by Sussex Police on suspicion of disrupting civil aviation "to endanger or likely to endanger safety of operations or persons", a criminal offence with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment under the Aviation and Maritime Security Act 1990.
On 23 December, the couple were ruled out of the investigation and released without charge, having been questioned for almost 36 hours.
Their names and photographs were published by some news outlets, and they were named by the local Member of Parliament, Henry Smith, but not by the police.

Criticism of arrests

Sussex Police have been criticised for their handling of the investigation. An employer of one of the suspects said he was at work when the incidents took place and accused the force of ignoring his attempts to contact them regarding the alibi. He told a newspaper that "Although there was a complete lack of evidence, the police ripped his house apart. I know this will mentally destroy him... Sussex Police have really dropped the ball on this". The police had arrested the couple after learning they were drone enthusiasts who lived close to the airport. In a statement, the couple said they felt "completely violated" by the police and media intrusion into their lives. Speaking to the BBC on 29 December 2018, Giles York, the Chief Constable of Sussex Police, said he felt sorry for the couple, but thought their arrest was justified. No further arrests were made. In June 2020, Sussex Police paid £200,000 to the couple in an out-of-court settlement.

Reactions

Aviation

, Chief Executive of Gatwick Airport, issued a statement and apology. Chief Operating Officer Chris Woodroofe added:
The Civil Aviation Authority announced it considered the event to be an "extraordinary circumstance", and therefore airlines were not obliged to pay any financial compensation to passengers.
The British Airline Pilots' Association said:

Consumer

Alex Neill, Which? managing director for home products and services, said:

Political

Prime Minister Theresa May said in a statement:
In a tweet, the Ministry of Defence said Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson had confirmed the military deployment and 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."
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling told Sky News: "One of the things we're going to be doing is temporarily lifting the night-flight restrictions at other airports so more planes can get into and out of the country."
Shadow Secretary of State for Transport Andy McDonald said:
Karl Turner, the former Labour Shadow Attorney General for England and Wales, said on BBC Newsnight:
On 24 December, security minister Ben Wallace announced that "The huge proliferation of such devices, coupled with the challenges of deploying military counter measures into a civilian environment, means there are no easy solutions... However, I can say that we are able to now deploy detection systems throughout the UK to combat this threat."

Other drone incidents

There were previous drone incidents at Gatwick Airport on 3 July 2017 and 9 July 2017. The latter was not made public until 15 October 2017.
On the evening of 28 April 2019, Gatwick Airport had to close temporarily due to an unconfirmed sighting of a drone. This was the first sighting since the incidents of December 2018. 3 flights had to divert to London Stansted Airport, and returned to Gatwick Airport around 90 minutes later.