Drone på uønsket besøk hos dronningen - Curt Lewis

An amateur drone pilot managed to land on the new Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier completely unnoticed

Drone Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier
The drone recorded this image of the HMS Queen Elizabeth before landing on deck. Black Isle Images/Business Insider

An amateur drone pilot landed on Britain's new Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier without anybody noticing.

The pilot, who has not been publicly identified, recorded video of the huge warship while it was docked in Invergordon in the Scottish Highlands last month.

He then landed his vehicle - a DJI Phantom - on the deck and took numerous photographs of the apparently abandoned aircraft.

The pilot posted the footage on a local drone photography Facebook group, Black Isle Images, on Friday morning. Here it is:


Photographs of the flight deck taken while the drone was landed were also featured by media outlets including the BBC and MailOnline.

He claims to have landed on the ship accidentally due to unexpected high winds that triggered an automatic landing function in his drone.

In an interview with the BBC, the pilot said there was nothing stopping him dropping explosives on the ship, and that the ease of his landing exposed a major security risk.

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

He continued: "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."

Business Insider has contacted the pilot for comment.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman told the BBC said that the military has "stepped up our security measures" in light of the incident, which is being investigated by the police.

The Queen Elizabeth is currently sailing south from Scotland to Portsmouth. The ship's Twitter account posted this morning that it was in the Firth of Clyde, near Glasgow:

View image on TwitterView image on Twitter

HMS Queen Elizabeth @HMSQnlz
Good Morning from The Firth of Clyde #QNLZatSea
1:41 AM - Aug 14, 2017
15 15 Replies 46 46 Retweets 211 211 likes
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According to the UK Defence Journal, the ship will arrive in Portsmouth on Friday.