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Gatwick Airport in Fresh Drone Drama as Three Flights are Diverted

In what seems to be becoming a regular event, Gatwick Airport diverted three flights to Stansted Airport following what is being described as a “possible drone sighting” at London’s Gatwick Airport.

Two EasyJet Flights – one arriving from Barcelona and one from Amsterdam – were sent to Stansted airport before taking off again and landing at Gatwick.  A third flight, from British Airways originating from Heraklion airport in Crete, Greece was also diverted.

The three flights all landed safely at Gatwick after their scheduled arrival.

It has been reported in  the Telegraph that one person tweeted that he was landing in Gatwick when the pilot “assessed that we were going to have a little delay because of a drone”.  The passenger added that they landed after 15 minutes.

image: Andy Potter, CC 2.0

Another person tweeted that his easyJet flight to Gatwick had been “redirected to Stansted due to a drone sighting as we came into land”.  He said that the plane was refuelling and returning back to Gatwick.

A Stansted spokesman said he did not anticipate any further diversions on Sunday.

A Gatwick spokesman said: “Gatwick investigated a report of an unconfirmed sighting of an object outside the airport’s 5KM exclusion zone today but – following a full assessment – the airport has remained fully operational throughout.”

The event comes on the heels of major disruption during last year’s holiday season, when large numbers of passengers were left stranded, as DRONELIFE covered here.  Gatwick and Heathrow airports have purchased millions of pounds worth of military grade anti-drone equipment in response to the alleged sightings, thought to include a mix of scanners, jammers and radars.

At the time of the purchase, an airport spokesman said: “It means that Gatwick is now at a level of equipment equal to what the armed forces provided us with.”

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