British Airways plane 'threat' at Newark Liberty airport

[Longtimer]

Hopefully, "Much ado about nothing"

British Airways plane 'threat' at Newark Liberty airport
British Airways plane 'threat' at Newark Liberty airport - BBC News (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36439096)

35 minutes ago

From the section US & Canada

Media captionFootage shows some of the 206 passengers lined up next to the plane while sniffer dogs inspect their hand luggage

Police in the US say they have received an unspecified threat about a British Airways flight from London to Newark.

The flight, carrying 206 passengers and 13 crew, landed at Newark Liberty International Airport at around 13:00 local time (17:00 GMT).

Airport police moved the plane to a far corner of the airport for further inspection. Passengers were evacuated from the plane and luggage removed.

Sniffer dogs later found nothing suspicious, the Associated Press says.

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey police spokesman Joe Pentangelo earlier said passengers' hand luggage and checked-in baggage would be rescreened as a precaution.




A BA spokesman told the Press Association: "The aircraft has landed normally. Security checks will be carried out as a precaution.

"We do not discuss details of operational security. The safety and security of our customers and crew is our number one priority."

[er340790]

Interesting that no attempt appears to have been made to 'get it on the ground asap' in the three hours between the message being received and the actual landing. :confused: Perhaps an indication as to the apparent seriousness of the call(?)

[Council Van]

No High Viz on the law enforcement officer's, is that not a $60 offence?

[am111]

It seems to me there are two possible reasons for the calls.

1.) Immature hoaxer that doesn't know better.
2.) A dry run of something more serious. It's probably quite telling to anyone intent in blowing up a plane about how the authorities react to a threat.

I imagine it is the former as it seems the authorities had some idea that this wasn't a genuine threat. As er340790 mentioned, no diversion was made and no QRA were scrambled. They certainly have access to a lot more information than many realise.

I wonder if the crew were informed or only found out once they were on the ground? Not sure if I'd continue flying no matter how much ATC or Ops tried to convince me it was a hoax.

[Hotel Tango]

am111, and although not the only bunch of nutters out there, judging by their batting average so far, the main contenders, ISIS, are not prone to giving any advance warnings!

[Ex Cargo Clown]

I was always told, "If you make a threat then you don't mean to do it"

Makes sense, only examples I can think of are IRA attacks where they didn't want to hurt anyone (Thanks for our new town centre ;) )

Oddly I have a checklist for "terrorist calls", I won't divulge it, but this doesn't tick many boxes for me.