The Royal Air Force (RAF) has left Gatwick Airport in London over per week after a mysterious drone sighting canceled about 100 flights and disrupted holiday travel for an estimated 140,000 travelers, based on the BBC.
The incident prompted international attention, and rabid speculation, as to who was controlling the rogue UAV. The military was called in, equipped with signal-jamming instruments meant to corral the aircraft if the prospect presented itself.
It never did. Authorities opted to not shoot down the drone, but quite to attend it out, largely on account of the dearth of rules dictating tips on how to cope with such a conundrum. As business slowly resumed its course at Gatwick, it’s turn out to be clear how ill-equipped we’re to cope with drones intruding on business airspace, however the story of Gatwick is much more absurd than that because, to this point, nobody is especially sure what even happened.
No drones have been recovered after a search of 26 sites near the airport. The one suspects within the case were released shortly after their detainment, but not before tabloid media made a show of their assumed guilt.
Perhaps most extreme of all, a Sussex police officer noted before Christmas that it’s “all the time a possibility that there may not have been any real drone activity in the primary place.” That statement was later chalked as much as “miscommunication” by police afterward but while authorities said they’re aware of “relevant sightings” of the drone from 115 witnesses—93 of which have been deemed “credible”—they seem like primarily eye-witness accounts.
The one publicly available footage of what may be the drone is a brief, grainy clip that appears to indicate a blurry dot above a runway. That could be enough to send YouTube conspiracy theorists off to the races, however the absence of more concrete footage is genuinely perplexing given the variety of presumably smartphone-wielding bystanders who claim to have seen the drone.
Meanwhile, the independent charity Crimestoppers is offering a £50,000 reward for any information resulting in a conviction of the drone operators. That’s, if there are any to seek out.
Source: BBC