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RAF ops cause delay at Heathrow

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RAF ops cause delay at Heathrow

Old 17th Jan 2020, 16:48
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RAF ops cause delay at Heathrow

I know it's the Daily Wail, but ...
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-airspace.html
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Old 17th Jan 2020, 19:34
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Spooky ...
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Old 17th Jan 2020, 20:11
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Originally Posted by DaveReidUK
Spooky ...
I thought those flying Landrovers have left Northolt...
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Old 17th Jan 2020, 20:54
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Originally Posted by UAV689
I thought those flying Landrovers have left Northolt...


Conveniently captured by Heathrow's radar tracker (not today's flight, but recent).
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Old 17th Jan 2020, 21:54
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RAF:
“This flight was coordinated with Heathrow ATC but had to extend by a few minutes to complete its sortie. The minor delays caused to civilian air traffic are regretted.”

At least four British Airways flights and one Virgin Atlantic flight were forced to divert to other London airports including Gatwick, Stansted and Luton. (Guardian quote)

Regretted, you bet. Off the top of my head, at least USD 200K loss for extra fuel, crew costs and lost pax time. I'd guess VS had to move a fresh crew to LGW as the flight from LAX would have exceed max. crew time.

VS announced to SLF it had only 5-10 mins fuel. I'd assume that was over and above the 30 min. reserve, if they ate into the latter, they'd have to declare fuel emergency - or not?

Last edited by Gegenbeispiel; 17th Jan 2020 at 22:06.
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Old 17th Jan 2020, 22:13
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Originally Posted by Gegenbeispiel
At least four British Airways flights and one Virgin Atlantic flight were forced to divert to other London airports including Gatwick, Stansted and Luton. (Guardian quote)
Three diversions to Gatwick (2 BA, 1 VS) and two BA to Stansted. I don't think any went to Luton.
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Old 17th Jan 2020, 22:17
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From the story in the Graun:

RAF statement:

“This [RAF Northolt] flight was coordinated with Heathrow ATC but had to extend by a few minutes to complete its sortie. The minor delays caused to civilian air traffic are regretted.”
and:

One passenger on a Virgin Atlantic flight from Los Angeles that diverted to Gatwick shortly before it was due to land spoke of the “alarming” experience as the plane circled Heathrow.

Anne Henry, a British TV producer, told the Mirror Online: “It was quite alarming when the captain announced after circling Heathrow for a while: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, we have about five to 10 minutes’ fuel left so we may need to divert to Gatwick.’”

After the Virgin plane refuelled, it took off again for Heathrow and landed almost three hours late. Passengers were given a letter apologising for a “security incident” disrupting the flight.
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Old 18th Jan 2020, 06:39
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What sort of person says "only 5 or 10 minutes of fuel left" on a PA? Doesn't matter if they meant 5 minutes before needing to divert and land with reserves, it's a stupid and aggravating statement.

If I'm going to give a reason for diverting it'll be along the lines of "unknown delay", "airspace closed", "weather", or "ATC told us to".

Many of my colleagues seem blissfully unaware that a sizable proportion of our passengers hate flying with a vengeance and talking about fuel (specifically the lack of it) is insensitive in the extreme to someone who's already nervous.
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Old 18th Jan 2020, 07:04
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Originally Posted by Fursty Ferret
What sort of person says "only 5 or 10 minutes of fuel left" on a PA? .
an Honest one?
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Old 18th Jan 2020, 07:22
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Originally Posted by Fursty Ferret
What sort of person says "only 5 or 10 minutes of fuel left" on a PA?
The sort who incorrectly thought his or her passengers were not complete morons armed with a social medie device?
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Old 18th Jan 2020, 07:22
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Originally Posted by MATELO
an Honest one?
Cooper: Hey TARS, what’s your honesty parameter?
TARS: 90 percent.
Cooper: 90 percent?
TARS: Absolute honesty isn’t always the most diplomatic nor the safest form of communication with emotional beings.
Cooper: Okay, 90 percent it is
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Old 18th Jan 2020, 10:44
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Originally Posted by SMT Member
The sort who incorrectly thought his or her passengers were not complete morons armed with a social medie device?
Do you publish your fuel on social media?
Poor choice of words. It’s what a pilot would say, but on the PA it becomes a near disaster.
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Old 18th Jan 2020, 12:20
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If that's what he said, maybe the words 'till we have to divert' or similer were missing. Anything for better copy!
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Old 18th Jan 2020, 12:31
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It's quite possible the passenger has paraphrased this a bit.

Say we might get a bit low on fuel if we keep waiting here, so we're going to divert to Gatwick; it's only 5 or 10 minutes away, and some people's minds might create a slightly different perception
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Old 18th Jan 2020, 13:43
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Maybe the "security incident" involved a Shadow R1 or BN Defender type aircraft (possibly operating out of RAF Northolt), that may have been tracking/orbiting over a person of particular interest near Heathrow relating to national security/terror related incidents...? Maybe this is why nothing specific has been stated because it could be an ongoing operation?

Food for thought.
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Old 18th Jan 2020, 16:10
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I'm struggling to believe that a Captain would announce to passengers that "we have about five to 10 minutes’ fuel left so we may need to divert to Gatwick". If you want to cause instant terror that's a good way of doing it, especially when it's pretty obvious that to get to Gatwick and land within the next 10 minutes is probably impossible.

PPrune's resident experts would immediately know what he meant. Many others would guess. But it's a very ambiguous announcement if you know nothing about how airlines do things.
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Old 18th Jan 2020, 17:00
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My original post did carry the caveat that it came from the Daily Mail. I'm afraid it was even worse, the Wail was quoting the Daily Hirror:
British TV producer Anne Henry told The Mirror how her Virgin Atlantic flight from Los Angeles was diverted to Gatwick due to a lack of fuel.

She told Mirror Online: 'It was quite alarming when the captain announced after circling Heathrow for a while, "Ladies and gentlemen we have about five to ten minutes" fuel left so we may need to divert to Gatwick'.
Suggest we all take it with a pinch of salt ... while we wonder what on earth required a light twin to bumble around delaying traffic for one of the world's busiest airports.
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Old 18th Jan 2020, 17:04
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"I thought those flying Landrovers have left Northolt"
Current rumour was it was a "Mercedes" can anyone check on Flightradar24
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Old 18th Jan 2020, 17:35
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Originally Posted by sky9
"I thought those flying Landrovers have left Northolt"
Current rumour was it was a "Mercedes" can anyone check on Flightradar24
You can rest assured you won't see the aircraft in question tracking on FR24.

And the lady involved was Allison, not Mercedes.
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Old 18th Jan 2020, 17:39
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What was the aircraft in question?
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