Unauthorised Drone Lands On HMS Queen Elizabeth

Cover picture courtesy of Cascade News.

A tiny amateur drone managed to land on the deck of HMS Queen Elizabeth without raising any alarm.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is now reviewing security measures after the £300-worth gadget landed on the deck of the aircraft carrier.

The episode happened last month when Britain's biggest warship docked at Invergordon, Scotland.

The pilot, who is a member of the Black Isle Images photography group, decided the timing was perfect to gather some footage with his drone.

The 280-metre, 65,000-tonne vessel is the biggest warship ever built for the Royal Navy, and is due to be commissioned by the Queen later this year.

The photographer took off from the other side of the Cromarty Firth using a DJI Phantom drone with a range of four miles. 

However, when the risk of strong wind increased, he landed on the £3bn carrier.

The man, who asked not to be named, told BBC Scotland he was surprised to have been unchallenged, even when he reported himself to armed guards at the dock.

He said:

"I didn't really want to land it but the wind was so strong, I didn't feel it would make it back so I ignored the warning. I never expected it to land on the deck."

The pilot told BBC Scotland his DJI Phantom is equipped with anti-crash sensors and will automatically land itself if it is in danger.

He said he took a photograph on the deck and then took off again.

The video has since been deleted from the Black Isles Images Facebook group, as it caused "a lot of commotion":

"The last few days have been quite stressful, some of you may have seen a lot of commotion about our photos and videos of the aircraft carrier in the Firth," they continue.

"We did not post anything to embarrass anyone but in doing so hopefully security will be tightened and the whole issue will blow over.

"There are some drone pilots who are angry because they believe it will make drone regulations tighter.

"We believe that those regulations should be tighter, there is no way we should have been able to do what we did.

"We did seek out the security of the ship and informed them and gave them our details."

He also told BBC Scotland: "I could have been anybody. It was like a ghost ship.

"I could have carried two kilos of Semtex and left it on the deck.

"I would say my mistake should open their eyes to a glaring gap in security. This was a bit of tomfoolery but it could have been something terrible, not just for the ship and its crew but for the people of Invergordon."

The pilot, who was aware he had broken rules on flying too close to HMS Queen Elizabeth, reported himself to armed police guards at the entrance to the shipyard.

However, he told BBC that "they weren't really bothered because the ship isn't active yet."

Back in June, the Defence Secretary insisted that Britain's most powerful warship is not vulnerable to a cyber attack, after fears were raised about its software.

A spokesman for the MOD said: "We take the security of HMS Queen Elizabeth very seriously.

"This incident has been reported to Police Scotland, an investigation is underway and we stepped up our security measures in light of it."

The multi-billion pound aircraft carrier is expected in Portsmouth - her home port - from next Thursday onwards.