WHO IS DRONE RANGER?
Gatwick Grinch ‘taunted cops by flashing drone lights’ as his ‘clever tactics’ to avoid capture are revealed
The drones are believed to have been modified to bypass programming that prevents them flying in restricted airspace
DRONE experts have revealed the tactics used by the Gatwick menace who brought the airport to its knees for more than 36 hours.
The unidentified operator is believed to have 'taunted' cops with the drone's flashing lights and evaded capture despite being hunted by specialist police units, MI5 and even the Army.
7
Using years of drone-flying experience and the few bits of information available about the Gatwick crisis, drone boffins have built a profile of the mystery pilot.
Expert Sam Luff, head of Apollo Drone Services, suggested the pilot was flying the devices low over the airport with their lights on to attract attention before "disappearing".
Mr Luff, who has five years of experience operating drones, said: "Whoever is flying these drones to Gatwick is likely lowering them down to around 100 feet and then causing trouble before flying up really high and disappearing.
"It appears as though they hover above the airport flashing their lights until they run into police trouble.
"To escape they simply soar hundreds of feet up. Drone lights can be turned off remotely - so when it's that high up with no flashing LEDs the operator can effectively make it invisible.
7
"It would be very difficult for police to track."
Mr Luff believes an operator would have to be close to the action to be able to expertly manoeuvre a drone in this way.
He said: "They are responding live, watching the events unfold. They would need to be close on the ground somewhere to able to watch police movements and the helicopters.
"They'd also need to be able to see where to take off and land if they're going to escape."
He said the "industrial spec drones" used over Gatwick were around five times bigger than their commercially available counterparts and could be operated from over five miles away for up to 30 minutes on a full charge.
7
More than 50 sightings of drones have been reported over Gatwick airspace since the crisis began on Wednesday.
Mr Luff believes multiple drones are being used by a highly organised group of pilots because of the large number of sightings.
He said: "If it is one person they would be stocked up with a load of replaceable battery packs.
"This looks to me like a coordinated effort. It's not some hobbyist with a small commercial drone."
7
7
Ex-Army captain Richard Gill, CEO of dronedefence.co.uk, said the technical know-how used suggested whoever is behind it could be educated to PhD level.
Mr Gill said: “Perhaps we are dealing with a person who just wants to do it to show how clever they are.
“He or she is just causing hell because they can and they want to test their limits. It’s the thrill of getting away with it.
“To have evaded police radar for so long suggests some serious capability.
“For example, if they have adapted a drone and put a 3G card to fly it through phone-waves rather than radio waves to avoid capture they would need a masters degree or a PhD.
“That’s the level they would have to be at to reconfigure the electronics and retune the radios then reintegrate everything into the drone."
7
Carys Kaiser, an expert known as The Drone Lass online, explained that commercial drones in the UK are designed with built-in "geofencing" programming which prevents them from flying or taking off near airports.
She said: "It is definitely something that is more organised in some capacity because the drones that I fly and the drones that most people fly in the UK have geofencing and we can't get them to take off that close to an airport.
"It's definitely not a hobbyist.
"This is somebody that has possibly hacked their software or possibly modified their drone in some way.
7
"[The manufacturers] have all developed this software to ensure that people can't just take a drone near an airport and take off.
"You get lock zones, so you'll get a yellow zone that could be a stately home or a football ground.
"It will say to you 'do you have permission?', and you have to put in details and the manufacturer knows who it is, and if there was an incident they could trace it.
"When you get an airport that's a red zone, and you can't unlock it unless you get written permission from an airport.
"You have to submit documentation, wait for five days and then you get an unlock code so you can fly
How could officials take down a drone?
Guns
Firearms officers were seen patrolling the perimeters of Gatwick's runways yesterday but police have ruled out shooting down drones because of the risk of stray bullets.
However, a number of companies have produced shoulder-mounted guns which can be used to fire nets at drones - preventing their blades from rotating and causing them to fall from the sky.
Lasers
Military technology can be used to shoot down drones from several miles away.
Boeing has developed a high-energy beam which can locate and disable drones in a matter of seconds.
A similar system was delivered to the Ministry of Defence earlier this year but it is not known if it is ready for use.
Radiowave 'fence'
Radiowaves can be used to prevent a drone flying within a certain area.
The transmitters disrupt signals between the pilot and the drone forcing it to land or travel back to where it took off.
The technology has been used at jails in Guernsey to prevent illegal shipments being flown over prison walls.
Trained eagles
A less technologically-advanced method to potentially bring down the drones are trained eagles.
Dutch police experimented with trained birds and found they were capable of tackling the flying machines.
However, the birds were never used in a real-life setting due to safety fears
"As with anything that's malicious, people will hack the software, modify the drones to get around all of that."
Gun cops continue to work with elite Army sharpshooters and MI5 spooks to shoot down the aerial devices and track down the suspect.
Police helicopters armed with infrared technology have been chasing the drones above the terminals before they disappear from view to escape.
Meanwhile cops on the ground scoured the area surrounding the airport and had no luck tracking down the mystery operators.
Moment furious grandma calls for Gatwick drone idiot to be HANGED in angry rant
Government officials have refused to rule out that the Gatwick crisis was caused by an environmentalist group or hostile foreign state.
Authorities are even investigating the possibility that the drone is being piloted remotely from abroad or that it could have been flying automatically on a pre-set flight plan.
This morning Sussex Police chief constable Steve Barry said cops were "certainly considering" the possibility of an eco-warrior activist being behind the chaos.
The force ruled out terrorism but told The Sun Online they were looking into speculation the devices were operated from locations outside the UK or were pre-programmed to fly automatically.
A police spokesman said: "These are all elements under investigation, but it not yet established or confirmed."
Asked if foreign powers could be behind the drone disruptions, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said: "I think it's unlikely to be but at the moment I'm not ruling out anything."
most read in news
He added: "It could be an environmental protest but we genuinely don't know."
Gatwick recently issued consultation plans for a second runway, leading to the suspicion it was a stunt by environment campaigners.
However, no organisation has claimed responsibility leading to the belief a lone-wolf attacker was operating the craft remotely, possibly miles from the airport.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368. You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.
Topics