RAF jets had Orders to Shoot Down Airliner
 

Bomb alert forces plane to divert

Link to Story Click Here

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/image...ewplane203.jpg
The plane being searched at Stansted

A Greek passenger plane has landed safely at Stansted Airport after a bomb alert forced it to make a diversion.

Olympic Airlines flight 411 was on route from Athens to New York when a Greek newspaper received anonymous telephone calls saying there was a bomb on board.

RAF jets were scrambled and escorted the airliner to Stansted in Essex.

All 301 passengers and crew have left the plane and a search of the aircraft has so far found nothing suspicious.

Evacuated

A spokesman for Stansted Airport said the plane landed at 1529BST under "full emergency conditions".

The BBC's Athens correspondent Richard Galpin said the incident happened after three anonymous calls were made to the Greek newspaper Ethnos in Athens.

The first was apparently made by an elderly man who told them in broken Greek there was a bomb on board, two and a half hours into the flight.

Further calls - at least one by a person who spoke more fluent Greek - were received within the next hour and a quarter.

The paper contacted the police, who called the airline. No code word is believed to have been used.


Search

A spokesman for the Department for Transport said the aircraft "is on the ground and being searched as part of a standard response".

"It is not believed to be anything out of the ordinary at this stage.

"These are rehearsed procedures which have swung into action.

"Fortunately nothing has exploded, if indeed there was a bomb on board, but we take all threats seriously."

The RAF is not releasing any more details of how many of its planes were involved for security reasons.

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It is believed that RAF Tornados escorted the planes

An MoD spokesman said the pilot had contacted air traffic controllers for help.

Officials called the Department of Transport and then the MoD gave the go-ahead to escort the plane.

David Learman from Flight Transport told BBC News 24: "It's very much a routine operation being escorted when there is any suspicion of any kind of interference with a flight."

He added: "It [an escort] is a very good deterrent in case what seems to be a bomb turns out to be a hijack."

An Essex Police spokeswoman "The plane landed safely and the passengers were evacuated.

"They have been taken to a reception centre where they are being cared for. They will then be interviewed.

"At Stansted we are waiting for the police explosive expert teams with dogs to search the plane."

She added there was no idea at this stage how long the search will take and that the airport had well-rehearsed emergency plans.

Leonard Vlamis, chief executive of Olympic Airways, said the captain and authorities in the UK and the US were notified of the threat.

He said: "We were told to land at Stansted which it did safely. The passengers are all okay

"The passengers were calm and they were evacuated properly and safely. There was no problem inside the flight - everything was normal."

He said they had outlined their "strict" security measures to the authorities, which included screening all passengers and baggage and checking the aircraft by police and sniffer dogs.

He added: "The aircraft is expected to depart in three to four hours from now."[

Glad I don't live in Essex!

RAF Jets with Orders to Shoot

By Phil Hazlewood, PA News


Up to four fully-armed RAF fighter planes are likely to have escorted Olympic Airways flight 411 into Stansted today, with orders to shoot it from the skies if it threatened the capital.

Chris Yates, the aviation security editor of Jane’s Transport, told PA News that the Government’s policy on potential terrorist incidents involving passenger planes was similar to that in the US.

“Those fighters, although the Government would never tell you, would have been fully armed. The Prime Minister down in Brighton would have been informed,” he said.

“If there was any credible threat from that flight or any indication that flight was heading for central London, it would have been removed from the skies.”

Jet fighter escorts for passenger planes that could be under threat have been standard procedure since the September 11 terrorist attacks in America.

Passengers on US domestic and international flights have more experience of seeing F-16 fighters on their wingtips.

But they have only been used once before in UK airspace – a New Year’s Eve flight was intercepted as it passed over the Irish Republic on its way to London Heathrow.

On that occasion, as looks increasingly likely at Stansted, it was a false alarm.

But Mr Yates stressed: “The instruction is that if there’s any threat to central London then the only thing that’s going to happen is Sidewinder or other missiles are going to be lofted at the passenger plane.

“That’s the consequence of 9/11. Is it prudent? Yes. Frightening? Yes.”

Stansted officials said the Greek airliner landed under “full emergency conditions“, with fire engines, ambulance crews and police at the scene.

Bomb disposal teams would also be drafted in, as would counter-intelligence staff to interview passengers, while the SAS may have been put on stand-by.

“The pilot of the plane has the ultimate authority. If he believes there’s a threat to his flight, then he will alert air traffic control,” added Mr Yates.

“Air traffic control would take appropriate measures to alert the authorities.”

Although airport security has increased since September 11, it is not standardised and is still vulnerable, as seen in several breaches by undercover journalists in recent years.

“There is a baseline set of security procedures that are meant to be built on by each individual country given the perceived threat at the time,” said Mr Yates.

“The bottom line to that is that there are countries in the world where lip service is paid to aviation security.

“I wouldn’t suggest that Greece is in that category. Having said that, Greece was on a list by the US government because there were a number of hijacks in the 1970s and 1980s.

“From my own experience in November last year, the security was exceptionally tight, tighter than in some UK airports.”

Greece increased security in its airports and airspace before and during the recent Olympic Games in Athens.

A GR4 'fighter' aircraft escorting a plane into stansted. Well that's a novel use for the GR4. Always thought that was the domain of the F3. (Referring to image in BBC report.)

Well done to the people involved, the first real scramble from a UK base for a while I'm sure.

Just saw the news on SKY aparently RAF fighters were scrambled from a Lincs airbase, Wonder which one houses fighters these days?:O

Gotta love those press guys
 

Full marks for trying Styron, but if you're expecting any more detail beyond the tabloid's standard speculation on this thread, try again.

Always good to see the BBC doing its homework and using correct graphics (surely the 'spotters' at the base(s?) would have let them know what the ac was). Thought they might have sharpened up their editorial control a bit after Hutton.

Need to know?

Well done to all involved, on the ground and aloft. Must have scared the bejesus out of you.

Thanks Razor61:ok:

Well said Beags. :sad:

Fighter escort
 

Just wondering what on earth was the point of the fighter escort for the Olympic A340? Or more specifically, what on earth they could have done about anything?

It was a bomb threat - would the aim have been to shoot the bomb out of the aircraft hold or were they planning to infiltrate an assualt crew (like the F117a did in Executive Decision/Action - I forget which)?

What about poor little me, living in Manchester. Would they let it proceed unchallenged?

WTF??
An Aircraft is suspected to have a bomb on-board so it is diverted to Stanstead!!!!
As you say Jess, glad I don’t live in the area too.
Why put the lives of the people of Essex at risk? Because a high percentage of Essex folk are Chavs (www.chavscum.co.uk) is not a good enough reason in my book.
As the World is deteriorating rapidly towards another terrorist atrocity, I think it’s high time we had a remotely sited Airfield somewhere. A facility that would be maintained for instances such as this, such that the population isn’t put at risk, and the Airlines and Airports don’t suffer the huge impacts of having an operating base closed because a rogue aircraft has landed there.
I’m sure there must be scope for a joint (funded) venture between the Government and Airport Owners / Airlines. A secure facility (away from journos, prying eyes and Joe Public) where rouge Aircraft could be landed, where the necessary forces have been trained and have a good understanding of the location (and suitably hidden trap doors etc for getting onboard quickly if required).
Terrorists would be told – you want to divert to Blighty – you’re going to go to Airfield X – like it or lump it! (probably said slightly differently by a trained negociator)

What, you mean like RAF Valley?

The Spams diverted the Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam flight to Bangor, Maine - obviously seen as expendable, as Essex is.

Good points about the Chavs from Wigan Warrior - perhaps we should have an airborne sensor that can distinguish the largest concentration of Burberry clothing, for a more discriminatory diversion?

I´d like to echo ´Scud´s ' post - from the limited info I have here in KEF (Sky News, help!!) it seems like a job well done by all, air and land. Re-assuring to us all, I hope?

PS Not Valley, please, my brother is living near the field - let´s keep it at STN:D

<<
I think it’s high time we had a remotely sited Airfield somewhere. A facility that would be maintained for instances such as this, such that the population isn’t put at risk, and the Airlines and Airports don’t suffer the huge impacts of having an operating base closed because a rogue aircraft has landed there.
>>

That is, of course, exactly why Stansted was chosen in the first place many years ago as the UK's diversion airport for hijacks and related incidents, long before the recent growth from the low costs was even thought of. This became a problem when the Afghan 727 arrived out of the blue 4 years ago, but previous incidents (Sudan, Air Tanzania) had not caused material disruption. I guess the ATC, police and fire people at STN have more training than elsewhere, but maybe there is a need for an alternative site now, eg. a decommissioned military field.

No, otherwise I would have said e.g. RAF Valley (or Machrihanish or Stornoway). Why inconvenience the RAF and disrupt their training activities? I suggested a joint venture facility. Probably a new build, at a strategically well thought out location.

How about RAe Bedford as was. Very long Runway. (Unless it has since been dug up), fairly out in the sticks yet close to the South East of England.

Seems perfect.

DeepC