Air France jet lands after bomb threat

[Dnapps]

Brazil: Air France jet lands after bomb threat - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100711/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_brazil_emergency_landing)


By BRADLEY BROOKS, Associated Press Writer Bradley Brooks, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 21 mins ago

RIO DE JANEIRO – An Air France passenger jet headed from Rio to Paris made an emergency landing in northeastern Brazil Saturday night due to a bomb threat.

All 405 passengers and 18 crew members were safely evacuated from Air France Flight 443, said Jorge Andrade, a spokesman for airport authority Infraero.

A spokesman for Air France in Brazil said the bomb threat was phoned in to Rio's international airport by a female voice about 30 minutes after the plane took off.

The control tower contacted the jet and the decision was made to land in Recife, the Air France spokesman. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter.

The spokesman said authorities had not found any explosives after a five-hour search, and the jet was expected to be cleared to continue to Paris.

Solange Argenta, an Infraero spokeswoman at the Recife airport, said the flight took off at 4:20 p.m. (3:20 p.m. EDT; 1920 GMT) and that the plane landed in Recife at 7:53 p.m. (6:53 p.m. EDT; 2253 GMT).

Infraero said in a statement that after landing in Recife, the jet taxied to a secluded area of the airport and those on board were quickly removed. The airport was closed for about 30 minutes, and then reopened.

Flight 443 was on the same route as an Air France jet that crashed last June off Brazil's northeastern coast, killing all 228 on board. While no definite cause has been determined in the crash, authorities have repeatedly ruled out foul play.

[vapilot2004]

Perhaps the mysteries of AF447 can be wrapped up now and laid to rest. :rolleyes:

[JohnMcGhie]

The conclusion is: There is never a bomb on board. At least not one that anyone's going to tell you about.

Whilst I appreciate you have a different perspective from up there in Seat 0A, down the back here in 46C, I would be most grateful if you could trouble yourself to just pop into Recife and make sure :ok:

[wozzo]

The conclusion is: There is never a bomb on board. At least not one that anyone's going to tell you about.

You are absolutely right. But would you take personal responsibility for letting the flight continue?

[Checkboard]

Bomb threats are run through a decision tree in order to grade the threat. Only threats with serious elements are passed to crew - so as crew, if you receive a threat in the air you know it has already been assessed as serious. Hence the diversion.

If, for instance, a giggling child's voice called in a non-specific warning, on a low-threat route, the assessment would probably result in the crew not even being informed.

[merlinxx]

'Gobonastick' A very apt handle that me thinks:ugh:

[BEA 71]

You are absolutely right, checkboard, a thread assessor will
make the decision. These are smart guys and to my knowledge
never went wrong.

BEA 71

[poorjohn]

If there was really a bomb on board, why would you phone in a warning? Compassionate girlfriend, for instance...

[lomapaseo]

You are absolutely right, checkboard, a thread assessor will
make the decision. These are smart guys and to my knowledge
never went wrong.

BEA 71


Those are kind words for the PPRune forum moderators:ok:

[chris weston]

Irony from Iomapaseo!

Excellent!!

CW

[pinghenglin505]

hope the air transportation will become more safer..

[sprocky_ger]

And I hope all these :mad: that use bombs or other devices to attack aircraft will simply die and not being replaced. This will make airport security obsolete.

Oh, wait, I love those guys touching me, scanning my luggage and my body. The day will come we all have to drop our pants and to make a bow. :ugh:

[etrang]

These are smart guys and to my knowledge
never went wrong.


What do you mean by "never went wrong"? How do you know thwy were not wrong in this case? And what exactly is your knowledge based on?