The 36-hour lockdown of Britain’s second-busiest airport because of drone sightings earlier this month, snarling air traffic for days after, may have been one of aviation history’s biggest foul-ups.
Days after the sightings ended and flights resumed, Sussex police have admitted that after the initial few sightings, most or all of the rest may have been sightings of the police force’s own drones which were up looking for the original offenders. Chief Constable Giles York made the admission Friday.
Sussex Police were already under sharp criticism after arresting and holding a couple for 36 hours of questioning, despite strong evidence that they were at work elsewhere during the incidents. They were released without charges.
Among the 115 reported sightings, 92 of them from what the Chief Constable called “credible people,” no photographs have appeared, and a senior Sussex detective has said there may never have been a drone in the air.
Whatever the outcome of the various investigations, the airport has new been equipped with new equipment intended to prevent drones interfering with flights.
