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Boris Johnson RAF BAE 146 Makes Emergency Landing at Luton
From The Guardian
Boris Johnson hit an immediate hitch on his first assignment as foreign secretary when the plane carrying him to Brussels for talks with EU officials was forced to make an emergency landing. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office confirmed that the aircraft, believed to be an RAF passenger jet, a BAE 146, experienced a technical fault – thought to be an issue with the plane’s hydraulics - and had to land at Luton airport on Sunday. Flights to and from the airport were grounded while emergency services dealt with the situation. e.g. ETD London 11.04 - ETA Brussels 14.05 and then every hour It's quicker by train ..or what's the saying "If you've time to spare go by air" |
No no!!!If you want a scare Fly Ryanair,OR If you have time to spare Fly Ryanair!!
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Welcome to club, Boris. You watched your Government cut funding, now you see the consequences. Sucks, doesn't it? Imagine what that would be like if you were trying to get home after 6 months in the sandpit of your Tornado on a mission in the bad lands.
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Originally Posted by Courtney Mil
(Post 9443099)
Welcome to club, Boris. You watched your Government cut funding, now you see the consequences. Sucks, doesn't it? Imagine what that would be like if you were trying to get home after 6 months in the sandpit of your Tornado on a mission in the bad lands.
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Why are we still flying our Gov VIPs etc in clapped out old 146? At lease rent a modern reliable Bizet.
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Lootnairpawt is only 498m longer than Northolt, so it must have been something pretty serious if the corgi-carrier had to land at Northolt rather than returning to Northolt. If it had needed a long runway, surely Stansted would have been a better choice? Or Brize Norton?
Or was it simply that what the MoD sniffily describes as the 'alternative means' which BoJo was obliged to use was only available at Luton? A good job the aircraft wasn't carrying HM..... |
Why didn't they use the new shiney A330, or did the PM veto its use.
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It does seem that UK plc likes to do everything on the cheap. I can't imagine many other countries flying its' representatives around in clapped out 146's. As a previous poster said, why not a decent second hand private jet painted up in UK colours? I'm not sure flying a 330 to Brussels makes sense for half a dozen pax, but surely a 6-8 seat private jet would for all those short trips around Europe.
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A small bizjet would be a waste of time and money for such work. But a brace of A319CJ, such as the Luftwaffe operate for VIP work, would seem reasonable. Preferably operated by the Royal Air Force and not by some PFI mercenaries.
A330 pilots can be rated to fly the A319CJ with only a very short conversion course. |
Centre to centre Eurostar must be quicker as Warmtoast points out. An 0650 departure gets him in to Brussels at 1007 local (2hrs 17 mins). Factoring in getting from Whitehall to Northolt and getting into Brussels from the airport it doesnt matter if you are flying in a "clapped out " 146 or a brand new shiny bizjet, train is going to be just as fast, if not faster, and a lot cheaper.
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The plane, described by the Ministry of Defence as a small military aircraft, took off from RAF Northolt on Sunday afternoon but had to land at Luton Airport. One wonders how they would describe a Tutor then. |
Perhaps they were trying to emulate the "Specsavers" advert on the cheap!
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Yeah, and if he had used the train, the very same posters would be moaning that our FS is having to go by train instead of flying.
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...train is going to be just as fast, if not faster, and a lot cheaper. |
Originally Posted by BEagle
(Post 9443574)
Even then, there's a distinct possibility that a terrorist with an RPG would be able to take out the train without very much difficulty.
PDR |
As No.32 has the role of flying senior government ministers around how else would he get to Brussels? In any case flying RAFAir is quicker than queuing up with the rest of the plebs at Somewhere-near-London Airport, and probably quicker than Eurostar.
Except of course when you have to divert for technical issues. |
It wasn't so long ago that Margaret Beckett the then Environment Minister was given the sobriquet 'Air-Miles Margaret' for overusing 32 Sqn for her jaunts around Europe.
See here: 'Air-Miles Margaret' faces criticism for private flights | UK Politics | News | The Independent |
A spokeswoman for Ms Beckett said "there's often not much choice" in using RAF flights because European meetings ended at unpredictable times, often after Eurostar services had finished. She said that the emissions created by ministerial travel would be offset by planting trees and funding low carbon projects from next year. |
Frankly I don't want our government figures in hotels awaiting trains when they're doing important business on our behalf. No, not even those as useless as Margaret Beckett or as controversial as Boris.
Is there any suggestion, Courtney that this diversion was caused by budget cuts? |
Boris must be toning things down, not so long ago would have expected a para descent with a badly fitting bone-dome, waving a couple union jacks!
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