View Full Version : Just nice to watch: Airbus intercepted by Mirage2000
LiveLeak.com - Flight_VY8366_intercepted_by_Mirage_2000
DIBO, Interesting. Any idea of the circumstances?
...Although, I would have liked to have seen the fighter peel away into the distance at the end....;)
DIBO, Interesting. Any idea of the circumstances?Haven't got a clue. Not really giving any more info: VIDEO: Vueling Flight 8366 Intercepted by Mirage 2000 : Airline Industry Review (http://airlineindustryreview.com/video-vueling-flight-8366-intercepted-by-mirage-2000/)
Was hoping the Vueling community would have some active Ppruners :)
PAPI-74
4th Jun 2011, 10:14
I doubt the crew knew anything about it, because the RT would have all been in French.... (if he was on VHF that is).
I doubt the crew knew anything about itI was wondering why the Mirage jockey didn't move more to the 10 o'clock position to draw the attention of the Bus-drivers? And wouldn't SLF's draw the attention of the CC, eventually informing the Bus-drivers of the bumble-bee haging outside ??
Is 121.5 monitored closely by all crews? I might presume ATC would have tried calling the commloss crew on VHF guard, before calling the scramble ? Don't know what the Mirage jockey did't (besides taking pictures for friends&family); although I once monitored a dutch QRA crew calling a commloss airliner of Uniform Guard :ugh: Didn't really resolve that situation !!
PAPI-74
4th Jun 2011, 12:00
121.5 should be monitored by one of the crew at all times.
By the look of things, this isn't an intercept. As you say, they would goto the Captain's window and see what was going on. I am told that they would fly under the aircraft and then reduce speed to end up at the Capt window, avoiding alarming the pax - again depending on the differing procedures. I would not expect this formation flying to happen unless it was necessary. What if the jet had a control problem, hit CAT or a weapon malfunctioned next to hundreds of people. I would want them well away.
Say Mach Number
4th Jun 2011, 19:48
TCAS must have been going nuts. That would have got there attention if nothing else.
I remember over France sitting fat dumb and happy at FL380 we got a Traffic Alert from a mil jet in a vertical climb and set off the alert about 6000 ft below us due to its excessive climb rate. Saw it bunt over and descent again super quick.
That got our attention alright. Had to put the paper down.....
Is "Embellish" allowed on the flight plan anymore?
Thinks: a Brittannia 737 over the North Sea in the early 80's...at night.... and then later that same evening a Nightingale.........the things you'll do when your wingman's gone U/S, the tanker's full to overloading, the glamour and above all the Wing Commander's AFC
cyflyer
5th Jun 2011, 06:25
I'd love to see the pictures the Mirage pilot was snapping away merrily. Must be some fantastic shots.
flydive1
5th Jun 2011, 07:35
It look like a practice "intercept" and I would guess that the crew was informed by ATC.
scanhorse
5th Jun 2011, 14:49
"An extraordinary video footage has emerged, showing a Vueling Airbus A320 being escorted by a Dassault Mirage 2000. The video details the full interception. from the fighter jet’s arrival to its departure and the scene of the fighter pilot taking photos of the Vueling aircraft with both hands almost makes the video feel like a part of an action film.
Apparently, it is not but a real incident that took place on 27th May on flight VY8366 from Malaga to Amsterdam. The reason for the escort appears to be a communications issue of the aircraft which apparently got fixed moments after the Mirage’s arrival."
VIDEO: Vueling Flight 8366 Intercepted by Mirage 2000 : Airline Industry Review (http://airlineindustryreview.com/video-vueling-flight-8366-intercepted-by-mirage-2000/)
Wannabe Flyer
7th Jun 2011, 08:51
At the risk of bringing in conspiracy theorists, if one is to watch the video closely, the camera was perfectly positioned before the Mirage appeared and was pointed in the exact direction at the time. Following are the co incidences here
1) Camera on and rolling at the exact time the mirage appeared
2) Seat position and passenger location were perfect for this including the Mirage actually positioning itself outside this area and near the cockpit and or below and giving the nice show it did.
3) Very little hand shake and quality of footage is that of a high grade camera person / equipment.
Also is it common for the French air force to carry cameras on board?
Just too choreographed for me to think this happened real time.
:DAn excellent bit of Fighter control to put him in the perfect firing position..!!
Hotel Tango
7th Jun 2011, 12:20
Wannabe Flyer,
The naked eye will have picked out the fighter long before the camera is switched on.
Position of the fighter would be about normal for this type of interception.
Many fighter pilots do carry cameras operationally or privately.
Many of today's modern amateur cameras are capable of fine quality images and have in-built systems to offset any shake. I have one.
For what it's worth, this topic (http://forum.scramble.nl/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=74711&sid=7c869cfa1dffd196d80b9a4087215766) (mainly in english) was started by the maker (or so he claims) of the recent Mirage intercept video. He seems to indicate that no info was provided to the SLF by CC nor Busdrivers!!
One forumposter refers to a screencapture (http://twitpic.com/579ede/full) he made of some live aircraft tracking site (because it's was posted in dutch, I mention the link here again, fwiw)
As we are here on the Balcony anyway, I have a question for the professionals normally seated on row 0. What would you like the SLF's to do in cases like these, where they've long spotted the interceptor while you are still discussing the latest features of your new Iphone with your collegue:
jumping around the neck of the CC's (pretending to be panicking, but in the mean time having a firm grip on nature's finest features)
starting sharing pens and paper napkins between A-seat SLF's, so that they can friendly great the Mirage jockey with his name (they are all called Jacques, anyway) spread out over all the cabin-windows : H I - J A C K ! I think it would look very nice on the pictures taken from the mirage
having some fun to break the boredom of the mirage pilot's mission, by lending all available scarfs on the plane and dressing up all A-seaters with the scarfs around their heads and most of their faces.
testing the migrage pilot's skills on Morse code; you know with all that datalink stuff on board, these mirage guys don't often get a chance to practice their Morse code skills. So if all A-seaters would work nicely together and pull their window shades down at the same time : three short shade closings, three long one's and again three short one's (that's the only Morse code I still remeber), what are the chance's of the mirage pilot reading it correctly ? Has he got paper and pen on board to write down the answer and showing it to the pax's to prove he's got it right ??
other suggestions are welcome !
Guest 112233
11th Jun 2011, 21:51
Having looked at the Video - We have an intercept during the late evening ( I do not know the FL here but I suppose that the A320 was on a broadly NE heading accelerating the onset of nightfall ) Daylight fading so less chance of an eyeball on the state of the flight crew- The Mirage did seem to be armed - with a centre tank for extra endurance - Perhaps the airbus crew gave their approval for the practice intercept - The "on route centre" providing trafffic info as to the relative aspect of the Mirage - The contrail being a giveaway.
Still I would hope that in the absence of a "passsenger announancement"by the flight crew - The SLF would gently inform the Cabin crew of the proximal presence of an armed interceptor.
Accuse me of having a lack of sence of humour here; but the admiittedly remote chance of a live intercept taking place , does frighten me slightly.
An informed comment on the use of comms would be helpful - something like programming the new freq on comm X in standby and then QSY to the standby freq, as the new active, as a matter of habit. retaining the origional freq. Obviously not being a pilot, I do not know how many freq changes are needed in the cruise over N Europe; but is the PNF normally monitoring ATC as well as 121.5
PS being honest I fail to see the funny side of this.
CAT III