Airliner escorted by RAF into Manchester Airport
 

BBC reporting this live at the moment.

Apparently Qatar airlines.
Possible device on board - still being reported live.

"Possible device on board" Qatar airways A330 from Doha, Typhoon escort. Thank goodness...one wouldn't want to be blown to pieces without a military escort

.........and the Typhoon is achieving what? Genuine question.

QTR 43 from Doha. A330-300
A7-AEH. Appears on the ground surrounded by Police etc

Some non-sensational reporting of the incident with a video of the Typhoon in proximity.

Plane 'with possible device on board' escorted into Manchester Airport | BreakingNews.ie

Parked on a remote? They can't be that worried about anything catastrophic taking place on the ground then?
I'd assumed they'd leave it on the turning circle at the end of 24L if they were?

Lots of footage on Sky News taken from inside the aircraft with a Typhoon alongside, makes me think they're not worried about passengers remotely doing anything using phones/tablets etc?

Storm in a teacup? Good QRA response practice.

those RAF Typhoons are really busy these days...

Presumably trying to watch for any 9/11-style disturbance on board?

I knew there was a reason for the recent directive to keep your phone charged!!

News report says one passenger taken off before the rest disembarked, so sounds like they know who drew someone's attention to the alleged device (for want of a better way of putting it!).

Yet again when a aircraft lands in the UK with a suspected device in board the first thing the authorities do is keep everyone on the aircraft! Really! Wtf! They wouldn't do that with a bomb scare in a building yet somehow the muppets in charge think it's perfectly acceptable on an aircraft. Rant over.

skynews is reporting that it seems to be a hoax threat..: one man arrested

At the very least getting "eyes on" in order provide eyewitness testimony to any subsequent events.

After MH370 (never-mind 9/11) do you really imagine that any credible government presented with an airliner that may be subject to a serious level of unlawful interference would not order it to be intercepted and observed?

Greater Manchester Police on Twitter: A man who was onboard the plane at @manairport has been arrested on suspicion of making a hoax bomb threat.

Another idiot added to the no - fly list.
 

Assuming innocence prior to guilt , if this individual is mentally deficient enough to hand cabin crew a note referring to a bomb threat , then a lengthy jail term and a lifetime ban on air travel is a must. No tolerance for this stupidity.

Listening to BBC coverage. One the pax is being interviewed, saying they were not told what was going on.

Sorry, am I being stupid, but if I'm ever in this situation, please Mr or Mrs Flight Crew and Cabin Crew, do feel free to ignore me while you prepare the plane and attempt to save our lives. As long as you let me know if/when I need to do something, then my ignorance of the situation can be your lowest priority.

Pffft.

OK let's play a bit of hypothetical chess. Imagine the fellow says he has a bomb and he will detonate it if the pilot does not do what he says. The pilot is forced to say "that plane will shoot us down if I do what you say."

Stalemate. The pilot is removed from the decision-making process, which is a good thing because his/her role then becomes to concentrate on flying the plane safely for as long as he/she can. Then, the three possible outcomes are: bomb destroys a/c, hijacker gives up, or negotiations with British authorities begin.

A lot seems to be being made of the tweeting of images and footage taken from inside the aircraft - and there was me thinking mobile transmitting devices were supposed to be switched off between take-off and landing?:=

I would assume that the fighter pilot can visually check that the cabin is secure and the crew are indeed in charge of the flight.

I would also assume that if the aircraft varied from instructions given to it and for instance decided to crash dive into some area or other such as a nuclear power station then it might be shot down.

What I'm not clear on is how well the fighter plane would withstand a major explosion on the plane though I guess the amount of explosive carried by an individual would have limited spread.

I would like to see an answer as to why passengers on a plane with a suspected explosive device are not immediately evacuated.

It may be a little naive of me, but I am assuming that there is an understood protocol in these cases. Unfortunately, as it is, I assume, a military protocol, we won't be party to it, but it would be comforting (or not!) to know what the sequence of actions actually are.