BA Bomb threats
I have pondered this problem quite a bit with the benefit of time and no pressure. These situations are often handled poorly with the passengers left at risk to any potential explosion and the crew left in a grey area of confusion. From the left hand seat it would appear that the diffusion of responsibility outside of the cockpit paralyses any decent decision making/decisive action. In the simplest sense; get the passengers & crew away from the hull and luggage to minimise risk. Worry about apprehending a culprit amongst the pax afterwards.
With the above in mind; once we come to a stop at the designated spot I would set a stopwatch and inform the tower/ATC/police chief that I will be evacuating in a calm fashion (not neccessary to stampede off the aircraft, can use the slides with able-bodied pax/crew at the bottom to assist) after 15 minutes. I'd keep them appraised of the time and if steps hadn't arrived at the end of the 15 minutes then open a slide or two and disembark that way. 15 minutes is plenty of time to arrange a set of steps and enough ground personnel to safely herd the passengers on the ramp. 15 minutes is also plenty of time for whoever thinks they are in charge to make a sensible and firm decision.
And if a local plod got their knickers twisted because of that; I'm more than happy to face the consequences AFTER the passengers have been removed from the threat.
With the above in mind; once we come to a stop at the designated spot I would set a stopwatch and inform the tower/ATC/police chief that I will be evacuating in a calm fashion (not neccessary to stampede off the aircraft, can use the slides with able-bodied pax/crew at the bottom to assist) after 15 minutes. I'd keep them appraised of the time and if steps hadn't arrived at the end of the 15 minutes then open a slide or two and disembark that way. 15 minutes is plenty of time to arrange a set of steps and enough ground personnel to safely herd the passengers on the ramp. 15 minutes is also plenty of time for whoever thinks they are in charge to make a sensible and firm decision.
And if a local plod got their knickers twisted because of that; I'm more than happy to face the consequences AFTER the passengers have been removed from the threat.
This issue was made worse, and most likely unmanageable in a small island airport by the terminal having to be evacuated as well due to its own bomb threat.
Appreciate you Victor over at VASaviation.
Having listened to this mess, I really feel for the Nigels! You're stuck between a rock and a hard place.
BA were relying on the airport to provide them with the steps for a rapid disembark. But the airport failed them (ATC was just the messenger).
Having listened to this mess, I really feel for the Nigels! You're stuck between a rock and a hard place.
BA were relying on the airport to provide them with the steps for a rapid disembark. But the airport failed them (ATC was just the messenger).
"a similar one ex Heathrow was discovered .,pregnant girlfriend of bomber given his suitcase with bomb; shoe bomber."
Thanks - those two I remember
Thanks - those two I remember
One would like to believe there is a relatively short checklist of immediate actions to be taken.
Get the aircraft off the runway to an apron ( previously designated )
Get stairs, fire and police /security moving immediately.
Get the passengers and crew off the airplane.
While someone was in control overall. One Airside person should have been in charge of getting the pax off the aircraft.
Another person should have been in charge of evacuating the terminal.
The fact they held the aircraft in position on the runway for so long shows perhaps that there was no plan or that it was locked securely in someones safe ( for “security reasons” ) and not properly distributed.
The length of time to get stairs to the aircraft was “excessive” to say the least.
Some say that “Most Bomb Threats are hoaxes”.
A statistical comfort perhaps.
However as a friend once said about the chance of an engine failing “statistics are comforting until you become the 1/1,000,000 one.”
If the controlling authority says they have a “Credible Bomb Threat” you have to react as the if the treat is real.
A statistical comfort perhaps.
However as a friend once said about the chance of an engine failing “statistics are comforting until you become the 1/1,000,000 one.”
If the controlling authority says they have a “Credible Bomb Threat” you have to react as the if the treat is real.
Controversial, moi?
When I was flying I know that my company received many threats all the time. The threats were assessed and decisions would be made whether they were credible or not. It is clear that the majority of threats are made to cause maximum disruption and cost and/or publicity.
I have no inside knowledge but in the Bermuda case simultaneous threats to the airport and an aircraft do not sound like credible threats. A bomb exploding on an aircraft or in the building would have been ample to generate whatever chaos the perpetrators wished to generate. The impression is that two bomb threats were made by e-mail and the authorities sound like they reacted to both immediately with possibly no skilled analysis regarding their credibility.
Bermuda is a small airport. They do not have hundreds of staff, steps, drivers, ambulances, etc. The controller was doing her best and was extremely calm and professional given that she was really only the messenger with circumstances well beyond her immediate control.
The flight crew were hostage to the circumstances they were confronted with and must have been incredibly frustrated at the lack of immediate help.
During the Northern Ireland troubles I know that when bombs had been planted the perpetrators had a code which they used which the authorities then knew that the call and threat was real and they needed to act upon it. Of course there were other occasions when no warning was given before a terrorist bomb exploded.
I have no inside knowledge but in the Bermuda case simultaneous threats to the airport and an aircraft do not sound like credible threats. A bomb exploding on an aircraft or in the building would have been ample to generate whatever chaos the perpetrators wished to generate. The impression is that two bomb threats were made by e-mail and the authorities sound like they reacted to both immediately with possibly no skilled analysis regarding their credibility.
Bermuda is a small airport. They do not have hundreds of staff, steps, drivers, ambulances, etc. The controller was doing her best and was extremely calm and professional given that she was really only the messenger with circumstances well beyond her immediate control.
The flight crew were hostage to the circumstances they were confronted with and must have been incredibly frustrated at the lack of immediate help.
During the Northern Ireland troubles I know that when bombs had been planted the perpetrators had a code which they used which the authorities then knew that the call and threat was real and they needed to act upon it. Of course there were other occasions when no warning was given before a terrorist bomb exploded.
They do not have hundreds of staff, steps, drivers, ambulances,
Thread Starter
Bermuda- L F Wade international airport is not that small on island standards> In fact for an island with a population of about 58,000 is is quite big and takes up a significant proportion of the islands land area. It is a WW2 US base , Kindley Field (its ICAO ID is TXKF) was home to a squadron of P3s plus some exotic unmarked c130s in the Cold war days and was and still is a staging post for many shorter range military trans Atlantic's and has a 10,000 ft runway . It handles a great many biz jets being an 'offshore financial centre or tax haven ) . When I lived there it had one Dc10 a day to/from Kennedy -American Airlines and 2 Delta 1011 departures plus half a dozen 727s plus BA who swapped between tristars and 747s so its used to handling large aircraft. The US routes and now all handled by 73s and 320s and BA is pretty much the only widebody. it gets quite a few diversions on S America to Caribbean to US North east/Europe to Caribbean-Cenral America flights because it is along way from anywhere. So they do have emergencies but not many where this is wholesale threat to life on the plan as was the case here.where it was not a shut down engine or unruly /medic pax but a direct threat to the aircraft.
The US Navy are long gone so the military side of the field north of the runway is just bizjets and some vacant aprons where they eventually sent the BA jet to, most of these are along way from the terminal walking not impossible on a balmy spring evening but when it rains it comes at you in horizontal gusts and you are soaked in seconds which would have put even more pressure on the crew about evac or stay put. . So it is still quite a serious small airport being a very very isolated place it has no effective diversion airfield as except for the BA its basically go home and start again in you are coming from US or Canada. It has very modern terminal only around 7-8 years old so its far from the tiny island 2 ATRS a day that you can get further south and Bermuda is a fairly wealthy place -third highest GDP in the world so its not unreasonable to say they should probably have done rather better. When you boil it down anything like this has to be a challenge when a widebody aircraft is involved in an incident where there just aren't the people to handle things like simultaneous bomb threats ,do they really have a serious bomb squad, anti terror police, hotel accom for 200 odd people , transport etc so i just wonder how major airlines who fly to often even smaller destinations have plans in place for what to do in a situation like this which ended up with a 24 hour delay too.Not an easy situation for the crew at all.
The US Navy are long gone so the military side of the field north of the runway is just bizjets and some vacant aprons where they eventually sent the BA jet to, most of these are along way from the terminal walking not impossible on a balmy spring evening but when it rains it comes at you in horizontal gusts and you are soaked in seconds which would have put even more pressure on the crew about evac or stay put. . So it is still quite a serious small airport being a very very isolated place it has no effective diversion airfield as except for the BA its basically go home and start again in you are coming from US or Canada. It has very modern terminal only around 7-8 years old so its far from the tiny island 2 ATRS a day that you can get further south and Bermuda is a fairly wealthy place -third highest GDP in the world so its not unreasonable to say they should probably have done rather better. When you boil it down anything like this has to be a challenge when a widebody aircraft is involved in an incident where there just aren't the people to handle things like simultaneous bomb threats ,do they really have a serious bomb squad, anti terror police, hotel accom for 200 odd people , transport etc so i just wonder how major airlines who fly to often even smaller destinations have plans in place for what to do in a situation like this which ended up with a 24 hour delay too.Not an easy situation for the crew at all.
Thread Starter
Not reported what the crew did but if I were on that plane I would have some concerns,
Rejected take off , albeit fairly low speed
Taxi to dark corner of airport and just sit there
Blue lights appear -crew couldn't see them but perhaps pax could
No doubt cabin crew scurrying around a fair bit-understandably so,
I would think the crew had to say something and they certainly couldnt say we have just had a bomb threat
Itwas delayed 24 hours , was that due to needing a thorough search of plane, or SOP because even if they were hanging around for 3-4 hours they were probably ok hours wise
Rejected take off , albeit fairly low speed
Taxi to dark corner of airport and just sit there
Blue lights appear -crew couldn't see them but perhaps pax could
No doubt cabin crew scurrying around a fair bit-understandably so,
I would think the crew had to say something and they certainly couldnt say we have just had a bomb threat
Itwas delayed 24 hours , was that due to needing a thorough search of plane, or SOP because even if they were hanging around for 3-4 hours they were probably ok hours wise
Not reported what the crew did but if I were on that plane I would have some concerns,
Rejected take off , albeit fairly low speed
Taxi to dark corner of airport and just sit there
Blue lights appear -crew couldn't see them but perhaps pax could
No doubt cabin crew scurrying around a fair bit-understandably so,
I would think the crew had to say something and they certainly couldnt say we have just had a bomb threat
Itwas delayed 24 hours , was that due to needing a thorough search of plane, or SOP because even if they were hanging around for 3-4 hours they were probably ok hours wise
Rejected take off , albeit fairly low speed
Taxi to dark corner of airport and just sit there
Blue lights appear -crew couldn't see them but perhaps pax could
No doubt cabin crew scurrying around a fair bit-understandably so,
I would think the crew had to say something and they certainly couldnt say we have just had a bomb threat
Itwas delayed 24 hours , was that due to needing a thorough search of plane, or SOP because even if they were hanging around for 3-4 hours they were probably ok hours wise
Passengers would have to be checked back in, gone back through security before being re-boarded, the bags would have to be ID’d, ( pax may have had to identify their bags ) then checked, screened again, reloaded. ect. ect. ect.
