Ryanair & Air Arran Bomb Threat Diversions to PIK (merged)
 

Flight Diversion to Glasgow Prestwick - FR25 Paris Beauvais to Dublin
Flight FR25 from Paris Beauvais to Dublin (today 12th April) was diverted to Glasgow Prestwick on the instruction of the UK Department for Transport, where it landed safely at 14:22. A note was passed to the cabin crew onboard claiming that there was a bomb onboard the aircraft. The Captain immediately reported this to the UK ATC and was instructed to divert to Glasgow Prestwick Airport.

Upon landing all 172 passengers disembarked the aircraft normally. Passengers have been taken to a separate room in the terminal, where they together with Ryanair are co-operating fully with the police and local safety authorities. The aircraft will now be subject to a detailed search, following which we expect it will be cleared to travel onwards to Dublin.

Ryanair apologises sincerely for any inconvenience caused to these passengers, however the safety of our passengers and aircraft will always be our number one priority. Further updates will be posted on www.ryanair.com as they come to hand.

Why would this flight divert to PIK,surely DUB would have been a lot nearer,
if not any one of a dozen airports en route. BIZARRE !
Thank God all are safe.

PIK, along with STN, are the designated airports for use in the event of bomb scare and/or hijack. They both have all required facilities and prevent the disruption that would be caused by landing at busier fields i.e. LHR or DUB.:ok:

Assuming that this is a false alarm and that the person who wrote the message is on this flight, I hope the full weight of the law is dropped on them like a pile of bricks! Thankfully it seems all onboard are safe!

Yes I agree that STN + PIK are designated diversion airports,
but we are Talking about an Irish reg aircraft going from
France to Ireland. Why go to Scotland?

Sam Dilly

Because Beauvais to Dublin flight enters UK airspace a few minutes after departure (RATUK L613). So, UK dealing with the incident put the aircraft where they want and as you already know that is probably going to be EGSS or EGPK.

Regards

VL

What happened to the person who handed over the note ??

Be interesting to see if the a/c and original crew carry on to DUB or would they mysteriously be out of hours :confused:

Anyone know if the RAF scrambled QRA F3s from Leuchars to escort?

Harrogate, one of the channels (can't remember which) reported Tornados were indeed escorting, but from Coningsby (?).

FR flights being diverted to EDI or cancelled and Transavia flight diverted to GLA http://www.gpia.co.uk/FlightInfo/arrivals.asp

Sam Dilly, why do you have to make your opinion known (BIZARRE!) when you really don't know anything about airline or security procedures? A simple question would do without personal opinion attached.

Bacardi Walla- it is very unlikely some idiot 'handed over a note'. It is likely it was 'found'. Often written on the restroom mirror or discovered in a seat back. I hardly think anybody is going to say 'excuse me, but I've written a note- can you deliver it to the Captain?'

.
From BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4904124.stm

From the Ryanair website

Flight Diversion to Glasgow Prestwick - FR25 Paris Beauvais to Dublin
Flight FR25 from Paris Beauvais to Dublin (today 12th April) was diverted to Glasgow Prestwick on the instruction of the UK Department for Transport, where it landed safely at 14:22. A note was passed to the cabin crew onboard claiming that there was a bomb onboard the aircraft. The Captain immediately reported this to the UK ATC and was instructed to divert to Glasgow Prestwick Airport.

All passengers together with Ryanair are co-operating fully with the police and local safety authorities. The aircraft will now be subject to a detailed search, following which we expect it will be cleared to travel onwards to Dublin.

Update at 16:25 hrs; Prestwick airport re-opened.

Update at 16:45 hrs; Strathclyde police authorities have now authorised passengers to disembark from the aircraft. All passengers will be taken to a segregated room in the terminal building where they will be met by ryanair staff and provided with refreshments and other facilities. Ryanair is awaiting further instructions from the Strathclyde police as to when the passengers and the aircraft may be cleared to safely return to Dublin.

Update at 17:15 hrs; Strathclyde police authorities are now interviewing all passengers individually. In addition the aircraft and bags are being inspected by security services. Once this has been completed and the aircraft released for service, Ryanair have arranged for a stand by crew at Prestwick to bring the aircraft and all passengers safely to Dublin. As in all such cases Ryanair is co-operating fully with all directions made by the Strathclyde police authorities.

Update at 19:00 hrs; Strathclyde police are continuing to interview the passengers, and the detailed inspection of the aircraft is expected to be concluded shortly. Subject to the plane and passengers being permitted to travel onwards by the Strathclyde police, Ryanair is preparing for an onward departure to Dublin at approximately 22:00 hrs this evening.

Ryanair apologises sincerely for any inconvenience caused to these passengers, however the safety of our passengers and aircraft will always be our number one priority. Further updates will be posted on www.ryanair.com as they come to hand.

Not on a RYR flight!;) :} :} :=

Do seat backs come extra on Ryanair? I know they don't recline since the TV program! No pockets? Where do they put the inflight magazine? What inflight magazine? They do have toilets? Coin operated?

Paris to Dublin would spend quite a lot of time in UK airspace between RATUK and exit to Irish airspace depending upon route. If it took the LIFFY exit, it would have flown almost next to EGXC so that would make it a better place from which to launch F3s, given their speed and height limitations!

I believe the F3s were already in the air prior to this event, doing other things. Not sure if they were XC or QL though.

Confirmed hoax. Latest:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4904124.stm

RTE Radio report this morning had passengers complaining about being held on the aircraft for 2.5 to 3 hrs. after landing. It seems FC appealed to have pax allowed off, but authorities refused.

In the event of a bomb threat, I would think it was prudent to get the pax off to a secure location rather than leave them in harm's way.

FR crew got a lot of praise, but no so with the authorities.

I found some of the stuff in the daily rags somewhat disturbing. One suggested that Tony Blair was in direct contact with the lead Tornado pilot and might have been within seconds of having the passenger jet shot down, which raises a number of questions:
1. Was it thought that the aircraft has been hijacked? If not, why was there any consideration to shoot it down? I don't know the current statistics for bomb scares but they used to be not uncommon.
2. Is it really wise to have the PM running the show? Personally I would prefer the final decision to rest with a senior military officer rather than a politician.
3. Given the above, how will Captains react in future to a similar episode? Might they simply ask for a diversion and only reveal the true reason when close to landing?
4. I take the point about Prestwick being a designated diversion for security matters but if the thing is about to blow up it is surely prudent to get on the ground, like fast?
4. Lastly, one report said that the pilot reported the bomb scare to ATC who promptly handed control to the RAF.... Hmmmmm....