Arik Air B738 Intercepted

[The Maestro]

Anyone know anything about an Arik Air Boeing 737/800 enroute from Abuja to London Heathrow being intercepted somewhere over France by French Air Force fighter jets after ATC lost contact with the pilots for over 30 minutes? This must have happened a couple of weeks ago. Reportedly, it's being hushed up, but information has filtered out. And a huge fine has been levied on Arik Air by the French government for the cost of scrambling the jets.
Any truth to all this?
Would appreciate any info.

[ab33t]

I heard the rumout as wel but have not been able to dig up any info

[seper]

Its not a rumour,i hear Mr J/Jnr J are hopping mad,rightfully so.

[Oyindo]

Here goes the rumour mill again, I am not sure if this has never happened to any other airline over Europe, give them a break. Sh!t happens it could be you or me next.

[NDB17]

Oyindo,

Of course it happened to nwa, and the pilots lost both jobs and license. You're paid to pay attention. Listen out.

Fly Safe

[ZAZOO]

30mins is a long time guys, too long for any kind of argument. Lets remember who we are and the responsibility we carry, totally unacceptable, should not happen again.

As for the crew and why this happened, well, a thorough and joint investigation by Arik, NCAA and the french authorities should be carried out, I believe that must be going on as we speak.

Fly Safe and Always Stay Well, Always.

Zaz

[captplaystation]

30 Min in Europe without a call is a l o n g time, and maybe you should be asking yourself questions. :rolleyes:

But then again, I heard stories that Arik guys were sometimes working quite "intensively" if compared to JAROPS, if this is true and not just a rumour, need I say more?

Bad luck guys, it REALLY could be any of us ( hope at least you had a camera to take nice pics of the Rafale :ok: )

[skygod]

121.5.....have they ever heard of this frequency before.....hmm 30mins is quite a long time. I wonder what they where doing for that long?

flysafe and always listen on 121.5

skygod

[The Maestro]

Yeah, shades of Helios or NWA. Helios was hypoxia, and NWA was sheer inattention. I was able to get more info. I do not wish to condemn anybody or malign any organization. But perhaps we can all learn from it.
Apparently somewhere over France the captain had to use the toilet and left the First Officer in the cockpit. While he was gone ATC handed the Arik flight over to another frequency. It is not clear whether the First Officer acknowledged the transmission and if he did indeed change frequency to the new one. As soon as the captain returned, the F/O in turn decided to use the toilet. He too returned some time later, and neither pilot briefed the other about whether or not any changes had occurred. The two pilots sat thus contemplating the French vineyards slowly rolling beneath them. When the Rafales or Mirages appeared alongside, they were jolted into reality.
That really shook them.
Of course, they quickly established comunications, etc, etc, and a safe landing was effected eventually in Heathrow. This incident ended well for the airplane and pax, but not so well for the crew. A management pilot flew back the return leg in the intercepted captain's stead. The intercepted captain was sanctioned. Management's anger -- the captain filed no report whatsoever regarding his interception by frrontline fighter aircraft; no ASR, no MORs, nothing. Maybe he hoped the entire affair was a bad dream that would just go away.
Except that it didn't. The bill from the French government for the Arik crew's lapse was as real as it gets. I sympathize greatly for the captain. He was ex-Bellview, on the B767, so the route and its demands was quite familiar to him. I think the F/O deserves a closer look than he has been given so far.

[ugflyer]

Ahh that stinks, I really feel for the guy or guys involved. But then again, a quick question such as "how's everything holding up?" on return to the cockpit might have helped the cause on either side. Stuff happens but I really feel for the fellas!

[B737NG]

In this job we never stop learning by doing. Doing business is opening the option to do mistakes. Most of them never surface, some of them do. This one was a classic one. Relaxed climate during cruise, about two hours to land and nothing felt as a threat until the call of nature came and the scenario started to roll.

When one Pilot leaves the Cockpit for whatever reason the remaining one briefs the returning one on any changes. During the absence of one Pilot the remaining one should not change anything by his own desire to avoid mistakes. If ATC requests any changes the remaining Pilots carries them out and informs the returning Pilot of the changes. So far to the theorie, what is the reality? Do you feel boored by the information? if nothing happend then there is nothing to say but in dense Airspace US/EU, Asia there is allways something going on and it is worth to have a thought about it and brief, shortly to returning Pilot. Usualy that is also good to recover and refresh the memory.

Do I blame to two Pilots for that? Not at all, mistakes happend in the past and I feel sorry that the two have to face the anger of the Management who got´s shaken up by the bill of the Tricolore AirForce. They are in good company because others got a bill in the past and, I am sorry to say, there will be more bills sent in the future as well.

Due to the higher security requirements, whatever that means, the loss of communication is now handeld more serious then ten years ago. A Airplane what is not responding to ATC calls is now watched more closely from Air Defence unit then ever before. The 9/11 got them off guard. They want, and must, ensure that this is not happening again. the 12/25th, a well selected day, was nearly another disaster for the security community again. They now gear up and I am confident that the next surprise comes again. I pray it will not claim lives again or harm anyone. The shock is enough pain. This industrie is learning by doing...........

Fly safe and land happy

NG

[The Maestro]

Thanks, NG. Very thoughtful. I couldn't have said it better.

[bmabango]

ZAZOO and NDB17 good comment we can not afford to relax or be tooprotective!!!! NG good summary , we have got to keep learning from our past.

[DragRequired]

I am sure that most of you dont know that the Captain has been downgraded to F.O. for six months and both the F.O. and Captain on the intercepted flight are having $1000 USD removed from their salary for six months. i.e. Total $12,000 USD which was the cost of the fine. Arik is recouping the cost of the fine from the pilots. Now I think that is total B.S....:=

[18left]

DRAG REQUIRED

if you owned ARIK,would you be okay and give the pilots:ok:

[The Maestro]

That's sad. And patently against the biblical 'an eye for an eye'. I hope the captain gets his command back after six months. And for both guys, taking 6Gs out of one's pocket in these hard times is downright evil. The other sanctions would have been enough without the out-of-pocket levies.
Why do I get the feeling that the Arik boss is not a pleasant man to work for?

[standardRate]

that's really sad!:ugh: 1000 big ones from their salaries for 6 months...!:{
i hear that's a major chunk off the meat from what the boys at Arik earn.:suspect: