A police constable leading the search for the Gatwick drone operators was labelled “ass chief” in a peculiar faux pas on Good Morning Britain on Friday.
The assistant chief constable for Sussex Police, Steve Barry, was being interviewed on the morning show to discuss the chaos at the airport.
However, viewers were quick to point out the bizarre shortening of “assistant” to “ass” on-screen.
“Chief of what?! Think I’d be asking for a new job title,” wrote one on Twitter.
Another viewer said: “Please you the officer’s full title in future, my daughter has just giggled asking what as [sic] ‘Ass Chief’ does?”
She followed this with the hashtag “awkward”.
As Mr Barry spoke to Good Morning Britain, he said that police were in a "much more positive place today" with the airport open and more provisions for dealing with drones should they appear again.
Sussex Police are continuing to search for the operators of the drones and military personnel are in attendance at Gatwick.
Some 100 flights have been cancelled on Friday and disruption is expected for the next few days.
A statement from Gatwick said: "The prospect of a deadly collision between what police described as industrial-grade drones and an airliner led authorities to stop all flights in and out of Gatwick, Britain's second-busiest airport by passenger numbers, on Thursday."
However, Chris Grayling the transport secretary said that he and the airport were confident of passenger safety.
