Reports of drones at Jersey airport (British Channel Islands)

[John J.]

It worries me there is so much confidence and public money put into this response when there is a clear institutional bias towards drone existing. They've clearly taken a position here to dismiss any supposition of misidentification.

I'm not sure the Jersey / UK authorities could have done much differently to what they have done.
If there are reports of drones flying close to an airport, knowing that previous scares might have been groundless doesn't help much.
Hobby drones exist in large numbers, and some might be used irresponsibly.

It's a bit like bomb scares; the overwhelming majority are probably due to malicious hoaxers or misidentified items, and (thankfully) very, very few are ever associated with a real device (at least in the nations where most of us live, I hope). But a school principal receiving or being informed of a threat is going to evacuate their school, what else can they be expected to do?

An airport manager (or whoever) made aware of reports of a possible hazard to flights might feel compelled to act on that information.
The chance of a particular hazard (e.g. non-corroborated reports of drones) being real might be small, but if the hazard is real, the potential consequences of ignoring a warning could be serious- more serious than travel disruption and lost revenue.

The UK has some drone detection and neutralising kit; the service personnel who operate it are going to be paid whether they're using it for real or not.

I don't think any supposition of misidentification has been dismissed; it's more that the relevant authorities can't be confident that misidentification has occurred. Having a senior police officer or other official briefing the media that most such reports are mistaken might have a chilling effect on future reports from the public. It would also be embarrassing (maybe worse) for that official if it turned out the reports were accurate.

 

[Trailblazer]

I don't think any supposition of misidentification has been dismissed; it's more that the relevant authorities can't be confident that misidentification has occurred. Having a senior police officer or other official briefing the media that most such reports are mistaken might have a chilling effect on future reports from the public. It would also be embarrassing (maybe worse) for that official if it turned out the reports were accurate.

Well, I wonder if the police are actually seriously considering the possibility of misidentification. The one-line response I got to my email didn't really give me that feeling.

 

[UAV Hive]

It is probably worth being reminded that the term "drone" covers a lot of flying devices (and non-flying ones, though those are not relevant to this thread) of a variety of sizes and shapes. I hear the term, my mind pictures a consumer or pro quad-copter, but is that necessarily what somebody seeing and reporting a drone is thinking they saw?

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This is the reason why I'm concerned when authorities say a drone has been seen but can't describe it, even to say the kind of drone it is.

That's a sign 99% of the time that someone is simply reporting a light they perceived as hovering.

 

[UAV Hive]

I'm not sure the Jersey / UK authorities could have done much differently to what they have done.
If there are reports of drones flying close to an airport, knowing that previous scares might have been groundless doesn't help much.
Hobby drones exist in large numbers, and some might be used irresponsibly.

This is true to a degree, though staff could be trained about sightings at night and have a check list and an app like ATAK. Authorities could be trained to use Sitrec after an event to stop a repeat the following evening.

Plus there are airports that make enough profit where they could invest in counter-drone systems with EO/IR.

Eventually we will see a manned aircraft, most likely a helicopter shot at and hit. Even a jammer comes with risks even if kinetic isn't used.

 

[Trailblazer]

I'm told that's in use now but either way the PTZ for that tower was recorded as a redundant unit, telling you there's at least another one.

I've asked the airport and the DfT (the lead agency) if they even have a written description, neither will even confirm that which is not a good sign, Gatwick was the same.

Meanwhile ITV interviewed the police tonight and it's a contradiction, they are saying the drone was seen because they had "reports" but no one has even seen it clearly enough to describe which frankly is nonsense (especially over multiple reports), if I saw a drone at night generally I could at least say it was a multirotor and possibly give a colour or size.
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The full report is here: https://www.itv.com/watch/news/jers...one-activity-after-airport-disruption/dvmsqbj

I'm not sure if it will be available outside the UK, so here is a transcript of the interview with Detective Chief Inspector Chris Beechey of the States of Jersey Police.

It seems somewhat contradictory to me - as pointed out by @UAV Hive, he says he saw them but then refers to "reports". He also says that the circumstances were "very different" from previous occasions when known drones were identified.

CB: The disruption over the weekend was significant, was serious, and has led to a huge amount of activity since that time. We have had lots of police officers, partners, specialist support now that has arrived on the island, out on the ground, and considerable help from the public helping us to develop the lines of inquiry that we currently have.

Interviewer: Just take us through exactly what happened from the moment you knew to where we are today.

CB: We have had previous reports in respect to drones potentially flying unlawfully in Jersey, and have on all of those occasions been able to identify where the pilot is, but this is a very different scale we're talking about. These circumstances were were very different. They of course occurred first of all in the hours darkness, which makes it very very difficult to to track.

Interviewer: Did you actually see them? Have they been identified?

CB: Yes, a number of official reports over the weekend, have absolutely led us to believe that there were a number of unlawfully flown drones over the island during the times that the airport was unfortunately disrupted.

Interviewer: Were you able to identify what type of drones?

CB: Unfortunately, not at this time. What we're hearing is that actually now we've got assistance from outside the island, strong assistance from the RAF. With one team actually up at the airport now, and two others outside of the airport, it would suggest that we are looking at perpetrators who aren't just a sort of a teenager on a whim sticking up a drone. We have a number of data sources. We have specialist equipment now on the island, and given the position that we have now put our operations in, we very much hope that should the drone activity continue, then we're in a very strong position.

Interviewer: Will the drones have to fly again for you to catch the perpetrators, or do you think genuinely that you may still catch them?

CB: The lines of inquiry that we currently have may very well lead to identifying exactly who was behind the disruption at the weekend. The operation is very much active. We have significant resources aligned to it. Other agencies have significant resources assisting us, and we very much hope that that combined effort will enable us to, at a point in the future, establish exactly what happened last weekend.

Interviewer: Are you looking at this from the point of view of the criminality of it, or are you looking at it in addition to that, to the physical cost to the island?

CB: This is all about public safety. Significant and serious criminal offences may have been committed over the weekend, and that is our priority now: to identify the persons that were responsible and to deal appropriately as and when we do so.

Interviewer: This all comes at a huge financial cost to you as the police force, to the other emergency services involved, but also getting in the expertise as well. Can we keep that going?

CB: The important thing is that we're in a very strong position now. Drones are not a new thing to the island, and of course, this technology changes all the time. The important thing is that I and we are now very confident in terms of the resources that we have available to us on the island to both investigate the events that have already occurred...

Interviewer: And you can keep those resources, can you?

CB: Absolutely, yeah. But also to prepare and ensure that the island is in the best possible position to the future.

Interviewer: People will no doubt say that we should have been better prepared. How do you answer that?

CB: From time to time, we have had to manage these type of incidents. What was very different here appears to be a very reckless or indeed coordinated event.

Interviewer: And for those islanders who this evening are worried or concerned, what would you say to them?

CB: Public safety is absolutely paramount. Using the specialist resources that we now have ensures that that public safety is right at the forefront of everything that we do.

Interviewer: We'll let you get back to work, but thank you very much indeed for your time today.

CB: Okay, thank you very much.

 

[John J.]

...staff could be trained about sightings at night and have a check list and an app like ATAK. Authorities could be trained to use Sitrec after an event to stop a repeat the following evening.

Agreed, but faced with reports of a drone sighting, they have to make a decision then and there about the safest way to continue operations.
They would have to be confident, perhaps within minutes, that what had been reported was definitely explained by (e.g.) misidentification of a scheduled aircraft. The relevant staff would have to interpret the report, which might not give precise location, direction of view or elevation of the supposed object.

Erring on the side of caution might be preferable, though there is a tension between being risk-averse and the costs of disruption.

 

[UAV Hive]

This worried me as I remember at Gatwick the CAA drone database was used to harass drone owners. We heard about the Gatwick couple but they weren't alone. Anyone with a drone living locally was treated like a criminal. The police took tire prints and even extracted data from people's satnavs, they just wanted someone, anyone to pin the incident on.

CB: The lines of inquiry that we currently have may very well lead to identifying exactly who was behind the disruption at the weekend. The operation is very much active. We have significant resources aligned to it.