UK To Extend Drone No-Fly Zones After Gatwick
After rogue drones caused a lot of problems in Gatwick in December, the UK Government is taking measures. The current exclusion zone of 1km (0.6 miles) will be extended to 5km (3 miles).
by Skycop team
- 2019-02-21
- 4:53 PM GMT
The change will come into effect on March 13. The Drone Bill will also include new stop and search powers for the police. Officers will now be allowed to access the data stored on the drone.
The Gatwick drone scare lasted for 3 days, affecting over 1,000 flights and 140,000 passengers. So far, no culprit has been found. The police arrested a couple of drone enthusiasts, but they were released without charges. Currently, the police are suspecting that a disgruntled former employee flew the drones from inside the airport.
Gatwick isn’t the only airport affected by rampaging UAVs. In January, Heathrow faced a minor disruption over suspected drone sightings. Recently, air traffic in Dubai was disrupted for about half an hour because of suspicious drone activity.
Unfortunately, if your flight is delayed or cancelled due to drones assaulting the airport, the disruption would fall under the “extraordinary circumstances” clause. This would make it impossible to claim compensation. However, if your flight was disrupted by other factors, feel free to claim compensation on Skycop!
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