4 ms·

How about risking bringing down a plane with 200+ people inside

montalbano 7y ago
I would suggest reading about the recent putative drone incident at Gatwick: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatwick_Airport_drone_incident https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatwick_Airport_drone_incident The safety precautions taken were so strenuous that i find it hard to muster any fear that any injury to life will occur during this planned protest.
frereubu 7y ago
You seem to be wilfully misunderstanding. The point of naming a day is that it won't come as a surprise, and the airport will be on high alert for any drone sightings. Activists will no doubt fly the first drones somewhere very obvious, but well away from planes, at which point Heathrow will close to planes and they'll have the runways to themselves. If they take the threat seriously, Heathrow may even close to flights in advance to avoid last-minute disruption.
- roenxi 7y ago
  What, so if an activist does something it is going to go exactly to plan and everyone will figure it out as they go, safely and cheerfully? This attitude to passenger safety is completely unacceptable. Protesting is acceptable. Doing anything that disrupts airline safety and the control of the airlines over their airspace is not. The reason air flight is so safe is because they understand that that is not an acceptable way to manage threats. We want engineering control over flights, not the clowns in Extinction Rebellion.
zmmmmm 7y ago
It's hyperbole to suggest that risk exists when the protestors are telling everyone the exact date, time and location they will fly the drones. If the airport still chooses to fly airplanes during that time and people still choose to get on them, then I think you can't say the risk was introduced by the protestors. Which is not to say I agree or disagree with the protestors, but please don't dilute the meaning of terrorism.
- roywiggins 7y ago
  The Provisional IRA did the same thing with bombings, and they were definitely terrorists. Not that I think these people are terrorists, but "telling everyone ahead of time" isn't an inoculation.
  - peteretep 7y ago
    > The IRA's armed campaign, primarily in Northern Ireland but also in England and mainland Europe, caused the deaths of approximately 1,800 people I mean I feel like that's a difference? What's Extinction Rebellion's body count?
  - NeedMoreTea 7y ago
    The IRA generally only gave hours warning. The Manchester bombing got 90 minutes, Birmingham pub bombings about ten minutes.
  - zmmmmm 7y ago
    I know this is a "slippery slope" type argument, but if you are going equate "mild inconvenience of your flight delayed" with death and destruction, you are opening up a huge invitation for authorities to apply some pretty frightening laws to anybody who wants to protest about something. Protests have traditionally obstructed traffic or caused other inconvenience and often when notified in advance the police even help them by directing traffic or doing crowd control etc. This isn't that much different and in some ways is better because aviation is actually one of the huge unsolvable contributors to climate change, so this protest is highly targeted to the people who are contributing to that.
    - roywiggins 7y ago
      I agree, it's not that different from scheduling a protest blocking a freeway. The last people to disrupt a UK airport got arrested and charged with terrorism-adjacent charges, which was an egregious overreach. Hopefully Extinction Rebellion won't face anything similar. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/06/world/europe/uk-stansted-15.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/06/world/europe/uk-stansted-...

I would suggest reading about the recent putative drone incident at Gatwick: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatwick_Airport_drone_incident https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatwick_Airport_drone_incident The safety precautions taken were so strenuous that i find it hard to muster any fear that any injury to life will occur during this planned protest.

frereubu 7y ago

You seem to be wilfully misunderstanding. The point of naming a day is that it won't come as a surprise, and the airport will be on high alert for any drone sightings. Activists will no doubt fly the first drones somewhere very obvious, but well away from planes, at which point Heathrow will close to planes and they'll have the runways to themselves. If they take the threat seriously, Heathrow may even close to flights in advance to avoid last-minute disruption.

roenxi 7y ago
What, so if an activist does something it is going to go exactly to plan and everyone will figure it out as they go, safely and cheerfully? This attitude to passenger safety is completely unacceptable. Protesting is acceptable. Doing anything that disrupts airline safety and the control of the airlines over their airspace is not. The reason air flight is so safe is because they understand that that is not an acceptable way to manage threats. We want engineering control over flights, not the clowns in Extinction Rebellion.

zmmmmm 7y ago

It's hyperbole to suggest that risk exists when the protestors are telling everyone the exact date, time and location they will fly the drones. If the airport still chooses to fly airplanes during that time and people still choose to get on them, then I think you can't say the risk was introduced by the protestors. Which is not to say I agree or disagree with the protestors, but please don't dilute the meaning of terrorism.

roywiggins 7y ago
The Provisional IRA did the same thing with bombings, and they were definitely terrorists. Not that I think these people are terrorists, but "telling everyone ahead of time" isn't an inoculation.
- peteretep 7y ago
  > The IRA's armed campaign, primarily in Northern Ireland but also in England and mainland Europe, caused the deaths of approximately 1,800 people I mean I feel like that's a difference? What's Extinction Rebellion's body count?
- NeedMoreTea 7y ago
  The IRA generally only gave hours warning. The Manchester bombing got 90 minutes, Birmingham pub bombings about ten minutes.
- zmmmmm 7y ago
  I know this is a "slippery slope" type argument, but if you are going equate "mild inconvenience of your flight delayed" with death and destruction, you are opening up a huge invitation for authorities to apply some pretty frightening laws to anybody who wants to protest about something. Protests have traditionally obstructed traffic or caused other inconvenience and often when notified in advance the police even help them by directing traffic or doing crowd control etc. This isn't that much different and in some ways is better because aviation is actually one of the huge unsolvable contributors to climate change, so this protest is highly targeted to the people who are contributing to that.
  - roywiggins 7y ago
    I agree, it's not that different from scheduling a protest blocking a freeway. The last people to disrupt a UK airport got arrested and charged with terrorism-adjacent charges, which was an egregious overreach. Hopefully Extinction Rebellion won't face anything similar. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/06/world/europe/uk-stansted-15.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/06/world/europe/uk-stansted-...