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Blair "Almost" Ordered RAF to Shoot Down a Civilian Airliner
According to comments in today's press about Blair's memoirs he almost had a civilian passenger plane shot down post 9/11.
A passenger plane flying over London was almost shot down in the panic after the 9/11 attacks. RAF fighters were in the air ready to destroy the airliner which had failed to respond to radio messages. "I had the senior RAF commander authorised to get my decision," Blair wrote. "The fighter jet was airborne. For several anxious minutes we talked, trying to desperately to get an instinct as to whether this was a threat or mishap. "The deadline came. I decided we should hold back. Moments later the plane regained contact. It had been a technical error. I needed to sit down and thank God after that one." |
Surely even the oleaginous Trust-me-Tone had been briefed about standard intercept procedures.
Presumably he had to wait for Dubya to tell him what to do..... What a shower of ****e nuLabor truly were......:( |
Oh no . . . It can't be true . . . I have to agree with HIM again.
Evenin' gov DD ps. Great word - spot on. |
Smells of political "Waltism"...
..... isn't tis the man who cliamed to have run a way from school to watch a footie match which occurred efore he was born or something equally obviously false. Don't trust anything the man says. |
Shame the fighter never got a "Lock On Tone", then took the "Tone" out..
The bloke lives in a dream world........ watching him tonight how he and Labour, brought the welfare state and the country into the 21st century (missing out the "we have financially crippled the country in doing so, for years to come") amazed me, he actually believes the sh*t he is shovelling..... |
After the next round of defence cuts it might be difficult to find a fighter pilot who would shoot down a civilian aircraft that looked intent on attacking Whitehall.
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It was the 18.30 Edinburgh - Heathrow shuttle. Passenger list read in alphabetical order:
ANDREWS, C BROWN, G D.......:E |
At the rate that 9 homes Tone is collecting real estate he will soon have more homes than the RAF have aircraft.:rolleyes:
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Some better headlines that suggest the fearless nature of the man:
Blair "almost" ran the country for 10 years Blair "almost" commanded the respect of the Armed Forces Blair "almost" had the balls to say no to invading Iraq Balir "almost" told the truth to the Chilcott Inquiry Blair "almost" kept his word to Gordon Brown Balir "almost" stopped acting like a poodle You get the idea I'm sure... |
Getting back to the thread I would think that all the leaders of democratic western states found themselfs in the "almost" position because the situation was so unclear.
Unfortunatly the only peope who grasped with both situation with both hands was the "security" industry, they saw the chance to charge big money for putting lots of low paid numptys at airport security gates! What we need now is for someone in government to turn on these people who ramp up the paranoia for personal proffit and get airport security back to a resonable level. |
Soddim said
"After the next round of defence cuts it might be difficult to find a fighter pilot who would shoot down a civilian aircraft that looked intent on attacking Whitehall." Frankly, I fear it might be hard to find a fighter pilot - fullstop. |
Never mind finding a Fighter Pilot, anyone know where you can borrow a B52 ??
I'm not busy next week so would be happy to help load and crew !! :D:D |
A passenger plane flying over London was almost shot down in the panic after the 9/11 attacks. "The deadline came. I decided we should hold back. Moments later the plane regained contact. It had been a technical error. I needed to sit down and thank God after that one." |
In a hopefully more staid discussion, I wouldn't be surprised if this happens more often than let on.
I was at a firm with aircraft flying around Windsor when 9/11 happened, and naturally ATC were a bit nervous... at one stage, just after we were allowed to fly again, a 'rogue' non-squawking target was spotted heading into Windsor airspace, obviously a big no-no . One of our aircraft was vectored to identify it, so much for F-3's - it had to be our worst, heaviest most clapped out C 172 whose only weapon was a 400mm lens ! It proved to be an innocent berk in a PA28, whose transponder was probably the same make we used, often got calls from ATC about it. Remember that in the early days of the Falklands a civilian Boieng 707 was very nearly taken out by Sea Dart, and there are quite a few passengers of a Korean 747 ( which may or may not have been up to something ) who would like their fare and their lives back... |
In a hopefully more staid discussion, I wouldn't be surprised if this happens more often than let on. |
I was still working at the time, although maybe not at the exact time, and I recall nothing about this "incident". I know my aged brain is knackered but I can't help thinking that West Drayton, which was infested with civil and military ATC types, would have been humming like mad if such a thing had occurred. If an aircraft radio-failed in the approach sector it would not be wholly unknown and I don't think ATC would have pushed red buttons. And just how quickly could a fighter get to the scene?
Maybe there is someone out there who was on watch at the time and can answer one way or another.......? |
'Mulling over to shoot down a probably innocent airliner over London' -
This must be the toughest one ever, but to be brutally frank if it looks like being steered at a target - and one has the means to shoot it down - a lot of fluttering pieces will of course be horrendous, but not as much of an impact, physical or tactical, as a high velocity airliner ? |
With regards the "civilian 707" that Double Zero refers to nearly being shot down during the Falklands, was this actually the case?
I could be wrong but I seem to remember something about it being an Argentine Air Force 707 that was shadowing the Task Force and that the UK warned Argentina that if it didn't back off it would be shot down. Does anyone know what the story was here? |
Argentinian 707s. There were several Harrier intercepts of 707s shadowing the fleet, and opportunities to shoot - 'but the option of firing on a 707 over international waters was unacceptable to the British Government'. (Falklands. The Air War.)
On the 24th April 82 Swiss diplomats advised Argentina that the next UK intercept would produce an attack; following which the 707s backed off. |
The Task Force was being followed daily by an Argentinian military 707 in it's progress South, which became a little bothersome.
When they picked up the same radar signature at nearly the routine time ( first law of stress / navigation, you see what you expect to see ) - a Sea Dart missile was within moments of going, which would have been poor PR and probably a stopper on the whole escapade, but one officer had the brains to spot the course and civilian airliner timetable... Source - " 100 Days ", by Admiral Sandy Woodward ( not a word for word quote but you get the gist, if not buy the ------ book )! |
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