Cutting power to air traffic control makes planes vulnerable to collisions which each other.

Flying drone causes incoming planes to divert to other airports and prevents take-offs - there is no crash risk.

> They can hold up signs outside the airport, but they have no right to put aircraft at risk. That is extremism.

You suggest they should protest where everybody can ignore them and in order to prove your point pull up false equivalences. That is NIMBY'ism.

>Flying drone causes incoming planes to divert to other airports and prevents take-offs - there is no crash risk.

There very much is increased risk whenever a flight plan requires sudden changes- the increased cognitive load on the flight controllers, the increased stress level on the pilots, the increased stress on the passengers... Each one may not seem like much, but it's a hole poked in the cheese.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_cheese_model

I agree that this is slightly less safe than normal operation. Pilots and flight controllers need to be ready to change plans everyday for various reasons be it weather, crashes, onboard emergencies etc. Landings in heavy cross-wind often are repeated and this is unforeseen and normal reason to change plans.

If drone would pose any significant danger to flight control system then entire system is not working as it should.

It's nowhere close to "cutting the power to air traffic control" as original post claimed.