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A major drone scare at the UK\u2019s Gatwick Airport in December which caused hours of delays and affected 140,000 Christmas travelers, may have been carried out by insiders with access to crucial information, according to officials.<\/p>\n
The airport\u2019s chief operating officer, Chris Woodroofe, has revealed that investigations into the incident suggest the attacker had inside information into how authorities were attempting to deal with the crisis.<\/p>\n
Woodroofe explained that the drone briefly reappeared every time Gatwick officials attempted to restart operations at the airport, but conceded that their information could have been gathered via a visual or radio link, or even online \u201cwhere much of this information is readily available.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIt was clear the drone operators had a link in to what was going on at the airport,\u201d<\/em> Woodroofe told the BBC.<\/p>\n READ MORE: London\u2019s Gatwick airport shut down over drone sighting<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Sussex Police took the accusation one step further, however, telling the program that the possibility of an \u201cinsider\u201d<\/em> being behind the attack was a \u201ccredible line of inquiry.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The UK\u2019s second largest airport was closed for a total of 33 hours between December 19 and 21, 2018, affecting about 1,000 flights and causing travel chaos. Neither the drone nor its operator were ever captured, and a since-revoked<\/a> comment by police that there may have never been a drone at all has called the entire incident into question. Some critics also questioned why the drone was never pictured or filmed by one of the eyewitnesses.<\/p>\n So all these sightings and not 1 person got their phone out and recorded it, not even the security officers who went out too check the runway???? Don’t usually do conspiracies but something’s not as it seems here???<\/p>\n \u2014 steph (@stephnkaiser) April 14, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n And yet every time it “reappeared” no one managed to film it.<\/p>\n \u2014 Bourbon Biscuit (@Borbassi) April 15, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Well, masses of people are said by the Chief to have seen the drone on multiple occasions Why haven\u2019t they come forward? Why no photos in one of the most heavily CCTVed places on earth? Unhappily comes across as an exercise in back covering. We live in an age of incompetence.<\/p>\n \u2014 James Wyburd (@WyburdJames) April 14, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n However, claims that the drone never actually existed were quickly dismissed<\/a> by the airport\u2019s operating officer, who cited over 100 sightings by airport workers \u2013 some of whom have decades of airfield experience and \u201cknow the implications of reporting a drone sighting,\u201d<\/em> Woodroofe insisted.<\/p>\n\n\n
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