A drone flying close to Gatwick Airport led to the closure of the runway and forced five flights to be diverted. An airport spokesman said the runway had been closed for two periods of nine minutes and five minutes on Sunday evening after the drone was sighted.

Easyjet said four of its flights had been diverted, while British Airways said one aircraft had been sent to Bournemouth. Other flights had to fly holding patterns as a precaution.

Sussex Police is investigating.

What sort of idiots are flying them around an airport full-stop.

It is possible that they could get sucked into the engine, and depending on size, could damage it - just look at incidents caused by flocks of birds.

But the aviation authorities report that as a near-miss, when two flying objects come too close and regardless of size, one has to take avoiding action. As the drone pilot wasn't in radio contact with the tower, that only left making sure the planes were diverted away from the area.

In Germany it is also illegal to fly them anywhere other than at model aeroplane aerodromes or in the countryside. Flying them in built up areas, especially over private propery aka houses, is illegal, as is flying near an airfield. I assume at least the latter is also the case in the UK.