Train GraphicClick on the map to explore geographics
 
I need help
FAQ
Emergency
About .
No recent travel & transport from BBC stories as at 04:15 20 Apr 2025
Read about the forum [here].
Register [here] - it's free.
What do I gain from registering? [here]
 10/05/25 - BRTA Westbury
10/05/25 - Model Railsay Show, Calne
13/05/25 - Melksham TUG / AGM
14/05/25 - West Wiltshire RUG

On this day
20th Apr (1789)
Opening of Sapperton Canal Tunnel

Train RunningCancelled
08:58 Bristol Parkway to Swansea
09:35 Swindon to Cheltenham Spa
09:55 Bristol Parkway to London Paddington
10:49 Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington
12:30 Swindon to Cheltenham Spa
13:30 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads
14:00 Cheltenham Spa to Swindon
15:09 Liskeard to Looe
15:29 Swindon to Cheltenham Spa
15:40 Plymouth to Penzance
15:41 Looe to Liskeard
16:35 Par to Newquay
17:00 Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington
17:09 Weston-Super-Mare to Severn Beach
17:16 Bristol Temple Meads to Severn Beach
17:30 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads
17:37 London Paddington to Swansea
17:48 Bristol Temple Meads to Weymouth
17:55 Newquay to Par
18:00 Cardiff Central to Taunton
18:01 Severn Beach to Bristol Temple Meads
18:15 Penzance to Plymouth
18:35 Severn Beach to Bristol Temple Meads
19:43 Swindon to Westbury
20:00 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington
20:09 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
20:11 Weymouth to Bristol Temple Meads
20:17 Taunton to Bristol Temple Meads
21:39 Bristol Temple Meads to Gloucester
22:45 London Paddington to Bristol Parkway
23:12 Bristol Temple Meads to Weston-Super-Mare
23:49 Weston-Super-Mare to Bristol Temple Meads
Short Run
08:15 Penzance to London Paddington
08:47 Penzance to Cardiff Central
09:22 Bristol Temple Meads to Portsmouth Harbour
10:00 Cardiff Central to Taunton
10:25 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
10:55 Cardiff Central to Penzance
10:57 Paignton to Exmouth
11:09 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
11:41 Swindon to Weymouth
11:50 Penzance to Cardiff Central
12:26 Exmouth to Paignton
13:16 Taunton to Cardiff Central
14:09 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
15:00 Cardiff Central to Penzance
15:35 Severn Beach to Weston-Super-Mare
16:18 Penzance to London Paddington
16:25 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
18:00 London Paddington to Penzance
18:11 Castle Cary to Swindon
19:39 Bristol Temple Meads to Worcester Shrub Hill
20:30 London Paddington to Weston-Super-Mare
20:30 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
21:57 Worcester Shrub Hill to Bristol Temple Meads
etc
PollsThere are no open or recent polls
Abbreviation pageAcronymns and abbreviations
Stn ComparatorStation Comparator
Rail newsNews Now - live rail news feed
Site Style 1 2 3 4
Next departures • Bristol Temple MeadsBath SpaChippenhamSwindonDidcot ParkwayReadingLondon PaddingtonMelksham
Exeter St DavidsTauntonWestburyTrowbridgeBristol ParkwayCardiff CentralOxfordCheltenham SpaBirmingham New Street
April 20, 2025, 04:29:31 *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Forgotten your username or password? - get a reminder
Most recently liked subjects
[96] RNLI station celebrates 10 years of saving lives - Portishead,...
[89] FOSS and FOSW validity - some quirks
[88] St Erth station - facilities, footbridge, improvements, incide...
[67] Fifteen years of the Transwilts CRP
[59] Wiltshire Day Rover - new multi-operator bus ticket
[56] Eyesight rules for motorists unsafe, says coroner
 
News: the Great Western Coffee Shop ... keeping you up to date with travel around the South West
 
   Home   Help Search Calendar Login Register  
Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 6
  Print  
Author Topic: Gatwick Airport - facilities, improvements and incidents - merged posts, ongoing discussion  (Read 22268 times)
broadgage
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 5674



View Profile
« on: December 21, 2018, 02:58:48 »

As well reported in various media, Gatwick airport has been closed for over 24 hours due to illegal flying of drones near the runway.
The disruption is substantial and is likely to continue until Christmas, due to the backlog even if the airport reopens soon.
The armed forces have been called out to assist.

The motives of those behind this are unclear, the local police have stated that it is NOT terror related, but IS deliberate.

I suspect either anti-airport protesters or "deep green" protesters who are opposed to air travel.
Logged

A proper intercity train has a minimum of 8 coaches, gangwayed throughout, with first at one end, and a full sized buffet car between first and standard.
It has space for cycles, surfboards,luggage etc.
A 5 car DMU (Diesel Multiple Unit) is not a proper inter-city train. The 5+5 and 9 car DMUs are almost as bad.
martyjon
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 1941


View Profile
« Reply #1 on: December 21, 2018, 07:02:07 »

BBC» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) Radio 4 Today programme reporting Gatwick runway is open and a limited number of flights will be taking off and landing.

What gets me is that TV (Thames Valley) detector vans can detect which room in an unlicensed property a TV is operating and yet in this case the authorities can't scan the radio spectrum that these drones use and pin-point the location of the transmitting control unit.

Much more to it than I have mentioned I suspect.

Shoot it down with a, err, drone. 
Logged
Red Squirrel
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 5501


There are some who call me... Tim


View Profile
« Reply #2 on: December 21, 2018, 07:26:52 »

...TV (Thames Valley) detector vans can detect which room in an unlicensed property a TV is operating...

There's a very healthy online debate as to whether TV detection really exists; it doesn't seem to figure highly in evidence given in court cases.
Logged

Things take longer to happen than you think they will, and then they happen faster than you thought they could.
martyjon
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 1941


View Profile
« Reply #3 on: December 21, 2018, 07:32:00 »

...TV (Thames Valley) detector vans can detect which room in an unlicensed property a TV is operating...

There's a very healthy online debate as to whether TV detection really exists; it doesn't seem to figure highly in evidence given in court cases.

It maybe that todays flat screen TV are different but with Cathode Tube TV's of the past it was the detection of the pulses emitted by the oscillators in the set that gave the TV away.
Logged
Red Squirrel
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 5501


There are some who call me... Tim


View Profile
« Reply #4 on: December 21, 2018, 07:41:06 »


It maybe that todays flat screen TV (Thames Valley) are different but with Cathode Tube TV's of the past it was the detection of the pulses emitted by the oscillators in the set that gave the TV away.

That claim formed part of the debate I referred to, as did another that it was the aerial on the roof that gave you away...
Logged

Things take longer to happen than you think they will, and then they happen faster than you thought they could.
Bmblbzzz
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 4256


View Profile
« Reply #5 on: December 21, 2018, 07:49:56 »

The motives of those behind this are unclear, the local police have stated that it is NOT terror related, but IS deliberate.

I suspect either anti-airport protesters or "deep green" protesters who are opposed to air travel.
That was my and I expect most people's initial assumption. However, the Extinction Rebellion people have said it was not them, and they don't seem averse to disruption. No one else has claimed it. I wouldn't rule out a small group doing it just for the lulz, no big point.
Logged

Waiting at Pilning for the midnight sleeper to Prague.
ChrisB
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 13323


View Profile Email
« Reply #6 on: December 21, 2018, 08:44:30 »

yep, or even (anti) Brexit campaigner(s)....frankly right now, it could be a teenage kid getting their kicks.
Logged
ChrisB
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 13323


View Profile Email
« Reply #7 on: December 21, 2018, 08:46:19 »

All we know for sure is that rules governing ownership/use are totally inadequate & this was easuily forecast. It wouldn't take many to bring total chaos to UK (United Kingdom) airports.
Logged
Phantom
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 552



View Profile
« Reply #8 on: December 21, 2018, 08:56:22 »

Is the drone the latest thing after cyber attacks?
Cause lots of chaos with not a lot of effort.

Does anyone know why suddenly some planes are able to take off and land yet before this morning they weren't and yet the same drone is up in the air still?
Logged
ChrisB
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 13323


View Profile Email
« Reply #9 on: December 21, 2018, 09:04:04 »

Where did you see that news? It isn't, & hasn't been seen all night. Oblique comments that they have done 'something' to prevent overflying (blocked their frequency?)
Logged
stuving
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 7425


View Profile
« Reply #10 on: December 21, 2018, 09:52:13 »

All we know for sure is that rules governing ownership/use are totally inadequate & this was easuily forecast. It wouldn't take many to bring total chaos to UK (United Kingdom) airports.

I've heard several politicians saying that, and have almost got to the stage of shouting at the TV (Thames Valley). Changing the rules - such as licensing, or the size of the exclusion zone - isn't the point; what went on yesterday was already against the existing rules. Changing the law, so as to allow physical intervention to remove an object from the wrong place, may be needed - I don't think there is any such power at the moment (but if they could yesterday they would have, and looked at the law afterwards). Enforcement, in the sense of the equipping the police (or whoever) with that kind of intervention capability, is what is really needed and lacking.

The drone need not transmit even if it is controlled from the ground, and autonomous operation with no controlling transmission (for a whole flight or just parts of it) isn't hard to do, though perhaps not with standard retail kit. And making one work on a different radio frequency isn't impossible either. Ultimately, you just have to go up and grab it (or convert it into an brick, aerodynamically speaking).
Logged
Western Pathfinder
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 1655



View Profile
« Reply #11 on: December 21, 2018, 14:54:08 »

Is this open again. Done from my phone.
Logged
patch38
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 655


View Profile
« Reply #12 on: December 21, 2018, 15:00:03 »

Yup - thanks! I've forgotten what I was going to post now... can't have been mission-critical  Grin
Logged
Western Pathfinder
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 1655



View Profile
« Reply #13 on: December 21, 2018, 15:01:19 »

And after all that!!!.☺
Logged
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 43849



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #14 on: December 21, 2018, 15:48:07 »

And after all that!!!.☺

It's open and we can drone on about flying (or not flying) again.   Grin Grin
Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, TravelWatch SouthWest Board Member
Do you have something you would like to add to this thread, or would you like to raise a new question at the Coffee Shop? Please [register] (it is free) if you have not done so before, or login (at the top of this page) if you already have an account - we would love to read what you have to say!

You can find out more about how this forum works [here] - that will link you to a copy of the forum agreement that you can read before you join, and tell you very much more about how we operate. We are an independent forum, provided and run by customers of Great Western Railway, for customers of Great Western Railway and we welcome railway professionals as members too, in either a personal or official capacity. Views expressed in posts are not necessarily the views of the operators of the forum.

As well as posting messages onto existing threads, and starting new subjects, members can communicate with each other through personal messages if they wish. And once members have made a certain number of posts, they will automatically be admitted to the "frequent posters club", where subjects not-for-public-domain are discussed; anything from the occasional rant to meetups we may be having ...

 
Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 6
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.2 | SMF © 2006-2007, Simple Machines LLC Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
This forum is provided by customers of Great Western Railway (formerly First Great Western), and the views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that the content provided by one of our posters contravenes our posting rules via admin@railcustomer.info. Full legal statement (here).

Jump to top of pageJump to Forum Home Page