Clever :mad: they thought about this quite carefully, "activated over Vilnius". This was not a forced demand to divert to Minsk like we have been led to believe. The PIC made that decision based on the information (lies) available. There is a Russian minister on record having publicly celebrated Belarus's brilliant execution. The Russian Foreign Ministry should be asked by ICAO to clarify what he meant.and to understand if Russia played a part in this.

It could ,of course be that the Belarus ATC were innocent parties to this `game`,and only doing what they are supposed to do if informed of a `bomb threat`...OTOH it did look like a `well-prepared` arrival party in Minsk,and perhaps not a great rush to get off the jet.....

Well there's certainly wouldn't be much logic or common sense in continuing to Vilnius if you have been specifically told that there's a bomb on board that can be "activated over Vilnius".

Now as for if or how any such device could be credible, that's probably something for an expert in that field and not something to be discussed here.

I would also expect there will be an investigation into the Security systems in place in Athens prior to departure,with respect to the `others ` who left at Minsk....

Allegedly, some, or all, of the other passengers who left had final destinations In Belarus anyway. There are no direct Athens-Minsk flights that I can find.
If this was all pre-planned, why would Belarus leave it until the flight was almost out of their airspace before acting?

25F

They didn't though did they?

If the transcript is to be believed...:hmm::

The flight first made contact with Belarus ATC at the boundary inbound at 0929 UTC.

ATC first mentioned the bomb just two minutes later at about 0931 UTC....

The flight continued northwards with the discussion/request for clarification continuing, culminating in ATC calling it a red threat at 0945 UTC

It sounds more to me as if it was trap set just waiting to be tripped pretty much the moment they entered the FIR....

Belarus has form in shooting down civil aircraft. Two American balloonists competing in the international Gordon Bennett long-distance gas balloon race were killed in 1995 after their balloon entered Belarus airspace without permission. They were intercepted, identified by a fighter and then shot down. Ignoring the ATC 'suggestion' to divert would be risky, especially since a MiG had supposedly been launched to intercept the flight, not the the crew seems to have known that.

Supposing the PIC did not know he had a Belarusian dissident as a passenger, were his reactions really out of the ordinary? On the other hand, supposing he was aware that he had a Belarusian dissident as a passenger, could he, would he have acted differently?

All evidece points to no agent on board (see in particular Belingacat research on the subject) - the people who left where merely some passengers travelling to Minsk in the first place.
In any case no-one has mentioned any disturbance in the cabin whatsoever (execept for some "rumors").
The pilots were tricked into landing in Minsk, which they did on their own accord. End of the story. A pretty crude con but not much to do with a highjacking at gun point.

tonyhap

He most likely was not.
Even Protasevich didn't realise what was going on until the plane was on the ground,
But in any case given the circumptances there was not much more the pilots could (and should) do.

A quick look at CFMU this morning reveals Belavia is still operating to numerous EU destinations. It would seem that at least one EU member state is obviously not in favour of a blanket ban. Cyprus perhaps given the tourism links?

The problem seems to be that the EU wants a ban, but has not yet a legal instrument to enact it. Of course, they could simply put Belavia on the unsafe black list, but that would be using a flight safety instrument for political reasons and they do not want that.

So, to which airports was the message shared to? ATC states several airports. Shouldn't be too hard to confirm those other airports. Oh wait, there were no other airports...
Not to mention the first report of "Lukashenka made an unequivocal order for the plane to make a U-turn" which now reads "the captain made an independent decision to turn".

This stinks to high heavens.

Beamr

At the start of the ATC exchange the controller tells the captain the bomb will be "activated over Vilnius", then a few minutes later ATC tell the captain "for security reason we recommend you to land at UMMS."...

Now I guess in theory you could claim the captain made an independent decision but he/she is very much being steered into making the decision that the authorities wanted.

I hear what you are saying, it's the Lukashenka part thats annoying (as was the original statement by BY authorities). In essence: they changed the statement over night.

Assuming the R/T transcript is correct and complete.( Big "if" )
From an ATC point of view, looks like the controller is just a parrot mainly repeating orders from someone else behind him .

That part I find interesting :The unreadable is the interesting missing part of course. and the subsequent pressure from the controller to ask for his decision, this is definitively not an ATC based request, but a request from someone directly behind him fearing the aircraft will enter Lithuanian airspace before a decision will be made .

Lastly : they start their Press release with : But there is no mention of the forcefully removal passengers from the aircraft which is in contradiction with the same ICAO Chicago Convention ..

In the meantime EASA issued a Safety Info Bulletin asking EU airlines to avoid overflying Minsk FIR until further notice, an indication they did not buy the Belarus press release story either.

That would set a bad precedent, wouldn't it... ? :ugh:

Are you refering to this incident ?