Phil Miller
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A PARALYMPIC cyclist who was banned for a doping violation plans to shut down Heathrow airport with a toy drone in protest over a third runway.
Bronze medallist James Brown, who has just finished a ban for missing drug tests in 2016, is one of four people who say they will fly miniature drones within 3.1 miles of the airfield next month.
That is according to a statement released by new environmental campaign group Heathrow Pause.
Under aviation regulations their action will force the airfield to shut down without putting any planes at risk.
The team plan to meet police in Lambeth, south London, tomorrow morning to discuss their plans.
Other activist drone pilots include teacher and window cleaner Jonathan Fishwick, 61, writer Valerie Milner-Brown, 64, and retired IT analyst Sylvia Dell, 61.
Ms Milner-Brown commented:
“I am a law-abiding citizen — a mother and a grandmother too. I don’t want to break the law, I don’t want to go to prison, but right now we as a species are walking off the edge of a cliff.
“Life on Earth is dying. Fires are ravaging the Amazon. Our planet’s lungs are quite literally on fire.
“Heathrow Airport emits 18 million tons of CO2 a year. That’s more than most countries.
“A third runway will produce a further 7.3 million tons of CO2.”
A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police said they are aware of the planned protest.
“Any drone flown into the path of an aircraft has the potential to cause great harm and endanger those on board,” she said.
“Anyone caught illegally using a drone within the proximity of an airport can expect to be dealt with in line with the law.”
The activists say their “tiny toy drones” will not go within flight paths and may be flown at little more than head height in a nearby park.
They plan to give the Heathrow Airport Authority at least one hour’s advance notice before each drone flight and start early in the morning before the airfield opens.
As a further precaution the group says that “in the case of a genuine emergency all drone use will stop immediately” and it will operate a “direct communication hotline between the authorities and the action groups ... to ensure fluent communication.”
