Sonic Boom over Suffolk / Norfolk? 0830BST
 

Assume this was a QRA from Scampton?

Yes, as I sit here on my lovely airport sby, Typhoons have been orbiting STN. As usual STN ops come grinding to a halt to facilitate some news.

FR2145 Kaunas to Luton escorted into Stansted by Coningsby Typhoons

Suspect package on board.

Ryanair flight 'escorted to Stansted Airport by RAF fighter jets' | Metro News

Good practice for the QRA people, but what exactly are two Typhoons going to do about a suspect package?

They are there to ensure the aircraft follows instructions to land where directed and to shoot it down if it looks likely to threaten to overfly London or some other metropolitan area or stratetic target.

A huge over reaction 99.9% of the time, but since 9/11 no one can be complacent.

oh yes ....


'Sonic boom' heard across Suffolk caused by military aircraft - BBC News

The RAF said Typhoon aircraft were authorised to travel at supersonic speed for "operational reasons". It said it "regretted" any inconvenience caused. :E

They knew something was wrong when they heard that a Ryanair flight was still operating!

QRA
 

Mr Wuli, the shrunken RAF operates its Typhoons out of only two UK bases. These are Coningsby and Lossiemouth. Today's launch would almost certainly have been from Coningsby.

Anymore shrunken.... and we may be launching the BBMF out of Scampton.:bored:

Highly unlikely, I grant you, but this report alleges that the flight was allowed to take off from Kaunas AFTER the bomb threat was called in: RAF jets intercept flight after security 'hoax' - BBC News

I suppose it's possible that the Lithuanians wanted it out of their country, but if so, what was the captain thinking?

He was thinking that his beloved company could not afford more delays or cancelations;)

The story as posted today in the Lithuanian press is that a young man born in 1993, who was subsequently arrested, and who lives in a village near Kaunas, telephoned the police to 'warn' that a passenger aeroplane about to land in Kaunas had a bomb on it.

There were no aeroplanes due to land within the timescale suggested in the phone call. There was however the Ryanair flight to Luton about to take off.

A full check was made of that aeroplane. No bomb was discovered. The aeroplane was permitted to take off.

Clearly the UK must have been informed of the hoax call and it seems that the UK was not taking any chances.

FR24 playback shows the aircraft orbiting for about 15 minutes at the FIR boundary, presumably awaiting the rendezvous with the Typhoons.

Aircraft had nightstopped at KUN, so that would explain why the threat was taken seriously, at least initially.

The account in the Lithuanian press I posted above is confirmed in the London Evening Standard


A spokesman for Ryanair said: "This flight from Kaunas to London Luton (4 Oct) was delayed ahead of take-off after Lithuanian authorities received a suspected hoax security alert.

"Police carried out a security search and cleared the aircraft to return to service, customers boarded and the flight departed to Luton.

While on approach to Luton, upon the request of UK authorities, the aircraft diverted to London Stansted in line with security procedures, and landed normally at Stansted, where customers disembarked and were transferred to Luton by coach."

It seems I need to withdraw my query about the captain's thought process. A non-event really, but the UK being very cautious, as they should be in the present circumstances.

Didn't take long:

http://southendnewsnetwork.com/news/ryanair-pilots/

I think we'll just let the people on the inside make the decisions on this one. :ugh: