Guest essay by Eric Worrall

h/t Breitbart – Eco extremists have openly admitted plans to shut down Heathrow by flying drones in controlled airspace, to terrorise authorities into suspending flight operations.

Exclusive: How Extinction Rebellion Plans To Shut Heathrow Airport Down Document reveals how climate change activists will use drones to organise mass disruption lasting up to 16 days later this year. By George Bowden

04/07/2019 12:12 BST | Updated 04/07/2019 13:10 BST Millions of passengers could face travel turmoil at Heathrow this autumn as Extinction Rebellion plans mass disruptions using drones, according to a new detailed proposal seen by HuffPost UK. The climate activist group will organise “day after day” of chaos across two weeks at the west London airport in a bid to stop flights, the leaked document reveals. The group – which shut down large parts of central London in April to raise awareness of climate change – is pushing forward with a revised strategy at Heathrow despite reports of unease among some activists.

“There is the opportunity to transform the humble drone into a David which allows us to stop the Goliath of Heathrow and the global aviation industry from destroying us,” the document states. In the new plans, drones would be flown no higher than 6 feet, weigh less than 7kg, and be kept away from Heathrow’s designated flight paths, in a bid to ensure “non-violent action”. Activists would also have an open “hotline” to police and would provide two months’ notice. Extinction Rebellion confirmed the document was real and told HuffPost it had reflected on feedback from its initial plans to shut down Heathrow, and that its new proposals included measures to minimise disruption for travellers. … Read more: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/extinction-rebellion-heathrow-drone-plans_uk_5d1da527e4b04c48140ef43c

As a recreational pilot I am horrified at this threat.

Deliberately flying a drone near an airport, even if the intention is to avoid flight paths, is a grave threat to life. What if a drone accidentally strays into a flight path, and a startled pilot makes a wrong move and crashes an airplane full of passengers?

Large airplanes create massive wake turbulence which extends for miles around and behind the path of the aircraft, powerful air currents which could easily cause drone pilots to lose control of their drones.

Flying drones in the vicinity of an airport with the intention of causing disruption in my opinion is just as reprehensible as planting a bomb, then phoning ahead to warn authorities to clear the area.

Sure the terrorists in both cases probably don’t want people to die, but the risk to life of such irresponsibility is utterly unacceptable. One slip-up and the lives of hundreds could be in peril.

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