Ministers and airport bosses meet to discuss drones
Aviation and security ministers are due to meet airport bosses today to discuss the growing problem of drones.
The meeting follows the incident at Heathrow on Tuesday evening, when reports of drone sightings forced the airline to close for an hour, affecting 9,000 people.
The Heathrow incident came less than a day after the Government announced new measures to deal with drones, including extending exclusion zones around airports. The measures were criticised as not going far enough.
Sky News reports several drone detection firms have been called Heathrow following Tuesday’s incident.
Reading-based Operational Solutions said it has technology that can detect, film and track a drone as well as pinpoint its operator, which could be installed at any UK airport within 24 hours and cover the entire site within a week.
Sky News said it asked 22 UK airports about their readiness to tackle drones ‘but none would confirm whether they had specific equipment already in place to deal with the threat posed by the devices’.
"Most airports said they had ‘robust’ plans in place, with Edinburgh and Newcastle confirming they had stepped up measures since the Gatwick incident," Sky said.
"Liverpool and Southend airport said they were trialling anti-drone systems," it added.
Meanwhile, pilot union BALPA said the Gatwick and Heathrow incidents are ‘powerful wake up calls’.
Dr Rob Hunter, the union’s head of safety, accused the government of dragging its feet on the issue, saying: "They haven’t listened enough. They haven’t done enough. They do need to do more."
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
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