Boom in London - Boob in Grauniad

[ORAC]

CY Typhoons in news on BBC etc for dropping a loud sonic boom over London about 4am after scramble. Following is Grauniad picture and caption......

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/dec/01/loud-bang-heard-across-london-caused-by-supersonic-fighter-jets

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1240x744/image_8d5eadabf1ff1fd537702eb1f927bb05675122c4.jpeg


RAF Typhoons scrambled from Coningsby caused sonic booms heard across London. Photograph: Royal Air Force/AP

[A_Van]

What hell those "guardians" put the picture of a Russian fighter in their article? Was it this bird that flew near London and Hertfordshire not responding to ATC comms? Panic spreading journos.....

[Joe_K]

What do you expect at 06:45 on a Sunday? Intern messed up and pulled a mislabelled photo from the database. Should be rectified once a grownup wakes up.

[Mr Grimsdale]

The photo has now been updated...
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/872x576/capture_4ae46bab4c59669ed38129f6d5ed7b93f7f0b28c.png

[Mr Grimsdale]

And updated again...
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/867x575/capture_acd7db4695f9d03da144d976c25e5046f7ca45db.png

[Lima Juliet]

Good grief, the standard of journalism is so very poor these days... :ugh:

[hunterboy]

Well, it begins with T anyway...

[Asturias56]

Saturday night - no Sunday paper to produce - all the real journo's at home or in the pub.

Desk left in hands of unpaid 22 year old with a degree in Media Studies working as an intern.............................

[Blackfriar]

What do you expect at 06:45 on a Sunday? Intern messed up and pulled a mislabelled photo from the database. Should be rectified once a grownup wakes up.

There are no grown-ups in journalism any more, at any time or day of the week. Sub-editors who used to check spelling, grammar etc and sub it down to the right column inches have gone. All journalists now seem to have Masters degrees in Journalism but cannot spell, use grammar or do anything other than cut and paste others' articles or press releases. They can, however, tag it with the right info to get clicks.

[treadigraph]

cut and paste others' articles or press releases

Mostly Tweets these days...

Sonic booms, eh? Wonder if that's what woke me up at 4am. Or was it just a nudge from the bladder...

[WB627]

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/863x680/capture3_466166c2295b8008e1d344ff047e981859a63433.jpg
Well you wouldn't expect the Russkies to answer ATC. It was the Russkies?? Isn't that a photo from the Typhoon cockpit?

[Martin the Martian]

Interns or not, I would expect any media library to have a relevant photo when searched. Even Google will come up with plenty of accurate photos when searching 'RAF Typhoon' or even 'raf jet'. It takes something really special to find an image of a Russian Flanker.

[BVRAAM]

My mate's been up since around 4ish this morning when all that kicked off. It woke him up.

Poor bastard. I slept in until 7.

[Mike6567]

The response was extremely quick. Do these pilots sit in the cockpit waiting for an alert?
(from Twitter info: ATC lost contact at 3.50. Coningsby scrambles Typhoons at 04.00 and the boom was at 04.19)

[davidevans54]

Good grief, the standard of journalism is so very poor these days... :ugh:

OMG its a military jet, for illustration purposes. The article was essentially accurate, nobody is bothered that they didn 't show, the exact aircraft type.

[PaulH1]

They would have been on QRA duties. In their flying kit close to the aircraft which would have been connected to GPUs with all systems up and running. I don't think that the pilots would have had a choice of 3 different types of aircraft though!

[Legalapproach]

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/640x354/aeroplane_heaven_hawker_typhoon_mk_1b_14_ss_m_170224103215_b 70c56951b401dfa3bc7d7b165e0670bddeb67b1.jpg
At least they didn't use this - although the Telegraph, Mail and Express would love it

[Two's in]

No wonder it was a loud sonic boom with that huge air brake sticking up like that...

[malanda]

I did a TinEye search to find where that original image came from, and the only match was
https://www.businessinsider.com/nato-baltic-fighter-jets-having-more-encounters-with-russian-fighters-2019-7?r=US&IR=T
Given the caption on that picture, it's an understandable mistake. (If you think the Russians do press releases when they are intercepted)

[BVRAAM]

In absolute fairness, the average person wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a Typhoon or a Tornado.

[scr1]

Apparently it was a ex El AL 767 on a positioning flight from Tel Aviv to the USA

https://www.timesofisrael.com/flight-from-tel-aviv-causes-london-panic-when-scrambled-jets-set-off-sonic-boom/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

[911slf]

I dare say that it is often necessary to go supersonic when intercepting something cruising at around M 0.8. Given the amount of fuss this generated, does anyone seriously believe there is an acceptable level of sonic boom from a business jet? I have heard it stated that with some designs under some circumstances it would be no louder than a car door slamming. That would certainly arouse comment from half my neighbours if it happened at 04:00.

[Auxtank]

Given the Grauniad I'm surprised we didn't get a shot of one of these;

https://i.postimg.cc/50LSBPsR/ss.jpg (https://postimg.cc/MMZBxY27)

[WHBM]

OMG its a military jet, for illustration purposes. The article was essentially accurate, nobody is bothered that they didn 't show, the exact aircraft type.
So, alongside a story about the British Prime Minister, they illustrate it with a photo of Putin. Well, they are both political leaders, they are both wearing a suit. What does it matter that the exact country they are from is different ...

[t43562]

So, alongside a story about the British Prime Minister, they illustrate it with a photo of Putin. Well, they are both political leaders, they are both wearing a suit. What does it matter that the exact country they are from is different ...

Looks like the photo might have been taken from a Typhoon, showing one of the things it has scrambled to intercept in the past. And indeed, what difference is there Between Putin and the other guy - isn't a lot of Russian money helping him along?

[Auxtank]

Come on guys - let's not turn this thread in to a rather under-entertaining Troll's Tea Party.

Back under your respective bridges in the woods immediately, please...

Here's a lovely pic of the aircraft (Cor Blimey, I wish my missus had a heat bloom like that....)

https://i.postimg.cc/K8DLgrQ8/typhoonjet.jpg (https://postimg.cc/9Dzz69v6)

almost as good as the real thing... (with striking geometrical similarities)

https://i.postimg.cc/nM8RMY21/hms-ark-royal-7.jpg (https://postimg.cc/ZvcFMN19)

[N707ZS]

Have we dared to figure what they were chasing after.

[treadigraph]

It was an ex El Al 767 being ferried to the US.

[Auxtank]

It was an ex El Al 767 being ferried to the US.

Nearly gave the skipper a heart-attack, or so he says;
Had Coms INOP for a bit and by the time they came back on he was already chatting to TMA.
Gave the boys a workout - nothing wrong with that...do 'em good; Practise getting up there and quickest.
And no SU-27s were hurt in the executing of this SOP - despite what the Grauniad printed earlier today...
And no, we didn't scramble any F-35s either - though that would have been definitive in the extreme. Perhaps TOO extreme...but they'e waiting...salivating in fact.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-50622110

[Repos]

In my part of the world we get abot 6 a year of various intensity, largely as a result of a base about 30km away.
They make you jump a bit occasionally and the only time it was a problem was a few summers ago when I was shirtless on the terrace holding the cat. Yes - blood drawn.

I've tried the jolly interwebby thing but I'm not clear on how widespread is the ban on overland supersonic flight across the world?
Also, is it driven by genuine environmental issues, damage to property, scaring livestock, or jusr trying to avoid litigation?

[TBM-Legend]

...and in my part of the World we simply say "she'll be right mate" and go back to the bar!

[FinelyChopped]

Doesn't No. II (AC) Squadron fly from Lossiemouth rather than Coningsby?

[Asturias56]

"In this part of London, there's been a lot of back-and-forth rotary wing stuff earlier in the week,"

NATO Meeting in Herts this week - Trump visiting UK??

[wiggy]

I've tried the jolly interwebby thing but I'm not clear on how widespread is the ban on overland supersonic flight across the world?


FWIW it is certainly allowed at hi level over some parts of France

We actually don't live under one of those areas but for some reason we got what sounded like a boom from a pair yesterday..

..not sure what that was about,

[TEEEJ]

Have we dared to figure what they were chasing after.

The following flight. See playback.

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/n725sh#23073509

[BEagle]

Boom in London - Boob in Grauniad

On page 3, was it?

Routine live Q scrambles and supersonic flight are becoming the norm. Much as it will doubtless upset the snowflakes and mad Swedish schoolgirl doom prophets, I think it's A Good Thing. Intercepting 'rogue' airliners needs to be conducted expeditiously.

[Video Mixdown]

Intercepting 'rogue' airliners needs to be conducted expeditiously.

Hats off to Brize Norton too, who had tanker support airborne by around 0447.

[Tankertrashnav]

I hadn't thought about that. Back in the days long before 9/11 QRA was invariably there to react to Soviet aircraft in the vicinity of UK airspace (as it still is for Russian aircraft). We normally had good intelligence on the likelihood of a Bear coming close enough to need intercepting, and our Dragonfly (later Tansor) tanker crews only held 3 hours readiness (I could be at home in Kings Lynn as long as I was on the end of a phone) . If a threat was imminent we came up to one hour, and occasionally less. I assume the Brize tankers are now on something like 15 minutes readiness to be able to react so quickly.

[BEagle]

NEED TO KNOW ALERT!!

[Pontius Navigator]

I did a TinEye search to find where that original image came from, and the only match was
https://www.businessinsider.com/nato-baltic-fighter-jets-having-more-encounters-with-russian-fighters-2019-7?r=US&IR=T
Given the caption on that picture, it's an understandable mistake. (If you think the Russians do press releases when they are intercepted)
Just press or click on their image and do a Google search. Then you will find even the Sun and Mail had it then.

[Pontius Navigator]

Come on guys - let's not turn this thread in to a rather under-entertaining Troll's Tea Party.

Back under your respective bridges in the woods immediately, please...

Here's a lovely pic of the aircraft (Cor Blimey, I wish my missus had a heat bloom like that....)

https://i.postimg.cc/K8DLgrQ8/typhoonjet.jpg (https://postimg.cc/9Dzz69v6)




Handy if you wanted to bomb it out of the sky😀

[BVRAAM]

Handy if you wanted to bomb it out of the sky😀

It's been done before...

https://theaviationgeekclub.com/that-time-an-f-15e-shot-down-an-iraqi-mi-24-attack-helicopter-with-a-2000lb-laser-guided-bomb/

[pilotmike]

The Independent takes woefully bad and inaccurate reporting to a whole new level with the following information about the Spitfire which recently returned from a round the World tour:

But a team of engineers at Boultbee Flight Academy, in Chichester, spent two years restoring the original jet to its former glory, focusing on repairing rather than replacing parts.
Seriously??!!!!! The journalist should be sacked on a simple point of principle.

[WB627]

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/634x282/hurricane_27e5d09e56df406e604236c5c940e5a0cd995c56.png
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/817x757/glorious_few_65f08875c40581329a90cf67c4d9166124c7a628.png

[teeteringhead]

Chipmunk's what?

[Herod]

The dreaded greengrocers' apostrophe. I see the Apostrophe Society is closing down; they seem to be fighting a losing battle.