Were drones built by someone who planned to disrupt? Top expert says specialist equipment would have been needed

The drone used over London Gatwick Airport were potentially built by someone who planned to cause disruption, a top expert said today.

Samuel Luff, who has been flying drones for five years, said he believes the operator could have been manning the drone from up to five miles away.

Mr Luff, who runs Apollo Drone Services in Redhill, Surrey, also pointed out that it was raining at the time the drone was first sighted - giving further evidence that the device is specialised enough to work in wet conditions.

By SAMUEL LUFF, Apollo Drone Services

As a licensed and insured drone operator and a drone pilot for close to five years, I am actually amazed that it is only now in 2018 that we are seeing a serious threat at Gatwick Airport. 

I have had many conversations with my clients over the years about just how destructive the technology could be in the wrong hands, and in my opinion this is what we are seeing this morning. 

From the video that I have watched it is clear to me that the drones we are seeing are not of standard specification and have potentially been built for the purpose to disrupt. 

Here's the thing - the largest seller of drones, DJI, all have built in systems that prevent the operator from flying close to airports, to stop things like this happening. 

Someone here has not only got close to the airport but has been seen over the runway itself. 

This is not someone making a foolish mistake, this is someone who has planned this and built or modified a drone that can get this close to a runway. 

It is also worth pointing out that at 9pm (the approximate time they were seen) it was raining. 

Again, this points to something that is much more specialist, and Gatwick Airport has stated that 'one of the drones is a heavy, industrial type'.

It is entirely possible these people were operating the drone from up to five miles away which will make it very hard to track them down. Drones are too small to be picked up by a radar as well so they can go relatively unnoticed.

What I would like to see here is the Civil Aviation Authority and the police make it very clear to people that breaking drone rules will have serious consequences. 

There are thousands of videos online of people flying drones over crowds of people and through city centres. Very rarely do these people get prosecuted and it leads to things like this which damages our industry. 

I have seen instances where unlicensed pilots know full well they are breaking the rules but do so anyway because they know that the police simply do not have the time to deal with them.

Drones are used for good all across the UK by sensible, qualified operators and it's moments like this that further add to the public's perception that all drones are bad. 

Until someone is made an example of then I fully understand their concerns.

Visit Mr Luff's Twitter page here - or view the Apollo Drone Services website