Heathrow, the biggest airport in Britain, was brought to a halt by a drone, with 40 flights delayed as a result. Many passengers were affected by the drone inside London's busiest airport. At 17:05 GMT, the Metropolitan police received reports of a drone being seen above Heathrow airport. Flights continued shortly after what the airport's spokesman would refer to as the "precautionary measure".
It wasn't the first time a drone had disrupted major airports in the recent 30 days. In mid-December, Gatwick, London's second-biggest airport, was also troubled by a similar situation. During the 32 hours of the incident, 120,000 passengers were affected by the drone, with no flights arriving or leaving the airport at all. After the incident, Gatwick airport pledged to spend 5 million pounds on defence against illegal drone usages.
New legislation was passed in 2017 which bans people from flying a drone within 1km of an airport. However, with crimes relating to drones surging from 0 in 2013 to more than 100 in 2017, the government has not done enough to tackle drone disruptions. New systems are being developed around the world to defend against illegal drone usage. It's been proven possible that a drone can be captured by another drone, and can also be shot down by lasers.
