Aviation security

Just how likely are terrorists to target passenger planes with drones?

“Terrorists will always wish to target civil aviation,” says the aviation security expert, Philip Baum. His new book, Violence in the Skies: A History of Aircraft Hijacking and Bombing, presents the horrifying history of attacks on aircraft.

Even a “harmless” hijacking - such as the Egyptian domestic flight which diverted to Cyprus to meet the demands of a passenger wearing a spoof suicide vest - grabs headlines.

And, as 9/11 shows, a well-planned and executed attack can take a dreadful toll in innocent lives.

The aviation security industry seems cursed constantly to be in catch-up mode, meeting the latest terrorist threat.

So it is understandable that passengers and crew might conclude that a malevolent attack involving a drone could down a plane.

The London area could be chosen for such an attack, because it is the world hub of aviation - with more flights and passengers than any other city on earth. Yet the risk that terrorists would succeed in bringing down an aircraft here or anywhere else, using a currently commercially available drone, is small.