RAF escort passenger plane into Manchester Airport

Lapin

Pilot reports suspicious device on board commercial airliner.

Qatar Airlines flight has landed.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-28662561

Calibos

Guaranteed this is a stupid fellow vaper taking a sneaky puff on his vapouriser and an even stupider fellow passenger to him/her not knowing what a vapouriser is or looks like and reporting 'suspicious behaviour' to the captain.

Just like the bus on the motorway incident in the UK a year or so ago.

I'll be back to say, 'called it!!' Shortly

daz1988

just seen this very very upsetting its very easy to plant stuff scary

Calibos

daz1988 wrote: »

just seen this very very upsetting its very easy to plant stuff scary

No it's not easy to plant stuff. It's not scary, it's sad that so much money will be wasted on the response to this.

daz1988

well in america some criminal kidnapped this mans wife got him to plant something on a place its easy if you know how

Calibos

Yeah I heard of that one, it happened in Hollywood

Oscar Bravo

Fly be flight that has been in the hold is now on finals so things getting back to normal.

ectoraige

Calibos wrote: »

Yeah I heard of that one, it happened in Hollywood

I think it really happened, this one time, at band camp.

daz1988

November 1993 a man heading to america planted something on a plane to get it off the plane in america he tried to kidnap the wife of a flight attendant sorry my mistake

Calibos

I also guarantee it's the first thing the media thought of too but what news editor will let likely probabilities get in the way of a good story that'll pull in extra viewers for the advertisers during the ad breaks or will fill column inches in the newspapers.

Harry Palmr

Bazzy

i'm just waiting for MOL or ryanair to get blamed !

Calibos

Oscar Bravo wrote: »

Fly be flight that has been in the hold is now on finals so things getting back to normal.

Manchester police have posted that airport is now back to business as usual.

Kay Burley on Sky News will try and drag this out as long as possible to give the editors enough time to que up the Bus Vaping 'terror' incident footage to extend the story further and turn the story into a debate on ecigs.

Bazzy

stuff taking off from Manchester now must be over

Lapin

Calibos wrote: »

Guaranteed this is a stupid fellow vaper taking a sneaky puff on his vapouriser and an even stupider fellow passenger to him/her not knowing what a vapouriser is or looks like and reporting 'suspicious behaviour' to the captain.

Just like the bus on the motorway incident in the UK a year or so ago.

I'll be back to say, 'called it!!' Shortly

Calibos wrote: »

I also guarantee it's the first thing the media thought of too but what news editor will let likely probabilities get in the way of a good story that'll pull in extra viewers for the advertisers during the ad breaks or will fill column inches in the newspapers.

You're quite the expert.

So do you think all potential risks should be simply ignored by the flight crew then?

Are you really suggesting the pilot reported this for a laugh or just to give Kay Burley something to talk about ?

Bazzy

Realistically what can the typhoon jet achieve by escorting the plane ?

Calibos

Obviously not. I didn't say the response was wrong, I said that it's sad it will likely have been brought about by a stupid fellow vaper and paranoid hostess or passenger ignorant of vaping and vapourisers.

Harry Palmr

Bazzy wrote: »

Realistically what can the typhoon jet by escorting the plane ?

It shoot it down?

Calibos

White guy with hands on head escorted off by police....

Suspect device reported to crew.....during the flight by other passenger....

Doesn't sound like drunken chav jokingly saying, "I've got a bomb". That would be reported as ,'passenger makes bomb threat'.

I still haven't changed my mind on my initial suspicions yet.

the_monkey

A330 ?

Bazzy

without being funny and thank god the plane has landed and it appears everyone is safe,

If there was a device onboard with a view to going off would that not do the same job ?

I don't want to come across as smart but is it practical to have a fighter jet beside it ?

Where do they make the decision to fire at it all they know is theres a device on board and the capt wants to get her down ASAP ?

Calibos

Ok I was wrong.

It was indeed a drunken Chav bomb threat.

Calibos

My fellow vapers must have learned their lesson from the bus incident.

Lapin

Calibos wrote: »

Ok I was wrong.

It was indeed a drunken Chav bomb threat.

So the flight crew responded correctly then.

Good.

Job done.

Calibos

Lapin wrote: »

So the flight crew responded correctly then.

Good.

Job done.

Never said they didn't. Said the stupid vaper and reporting passenger were at fault if indeed that had been the instigator of the incident.

Witchie

Bazzy wrote: »

without being funny and thank god the plane has landed and it appears everyone is safe,

If there was a device onboard with a view to going off would that not do the same job ?

I don't want to come across as smart but is it practical to have a fighter jet beside it ?

Where do they make the decision to fire at it all they know is theres a device on board and the capt wants to get her down ASAP ?

I think they are worried that a 911 type scenario would develop with the plane being used to hit a high density target. By shooting it down somewhere with less people more lives would be saved.

tricky D

Bazzy wrote: »

If there was a device onboard with a view to going off would that not do the same job ?

I don't want to come across as smart but is it practical to have a fighter jet beside it ?

Where do they make the decision to fire at it all they know is theres a device on board and the capt wants to get her down ASAP ?

One reason the fighter flies beside is to check who is in control in the cockpit.

The reason the fighter would shoot as opposed to waiting for a device to go off is to control where the incident would happen ie. not over populated or target areas.

A for who makes the decision, ideally the top of the chain is at Cabinet (COBRA) level.

kub

Where was the a330 when the initial report was received, just curious as to whether it was in Irish controlled airspace, that would have been interesting with our lack of military aircraft.

Lapin

tricky D wrote: »

A for who makes the decision, ideally the top of the chain is at Cabinet (COBRA) level.

Between this, and one of his ministers resigning, Cameron picked a bad day to begin his holidays.

billie1b

kub wrote: »

Where was the a330 when the initial report was received, just curious as to whether it was in Irish controlled airspace, that would have been interesting with our lack of military aircraft.

There's a deal between the British and Irish that the RAF can deploy fighter jets to any credible air threats in Irish airspace, regardless if the intended threat is on Ireland or the UK

LXFlyer

kub wrote: »

Where was the a330 when the initial report was received, just curious as to whether it was in Irish controlled airspace, that would have been interesting with our lack of military aircraft.

Given the flight was coming from Doha, and its destination was Manchester, I would think it highly unlikely.

Reoil

Bazzy wrote: »

Realistically what can the typhoon jet achieve by escorting the plane ?

1. To record and report on events as they happen.
2. To show their presence as a supporting defensive force.
3. To shoot down the plane if the situation escalates close to a crowded city.

Bazzy

I Wouldn't fancy having to make that call!!

so if it was a drunken idol threat what do you think is suitable punishment?

Closing an international airport is 9/10 on the idiot scale of stupid things to do.

Perhaps have him foot the bill for the fighter jet?

the_monkey

billie1b wrote: »

There's a deal between the British and Irish that the RAF can deploy fighter jets to any credible air threats in Irish airspace, regardless if the intended threat is on Ireland or the UK

Course there is !!!

What would Oireland do ? throw a stick at it ??

Reoil

He'll get a suspended sentence or a few months in jail, I'd say.
Jet probably cost £15,000+ to scramble. It would be very usual to pay money to the RAF. Community service and a fine maybe...

Bazzy wrote: »

I Wouldn't fancy having to make that call!!

so if it was a drunken idol threat what do you think is suitable punishment?

Closing an international airport is 9/10 on the idiot scale of stupid things to do.

Perhaps have him foot the bill for the fighter jet?

Lapin

the_monkey wrote: »

Course there is !!!

What would Oireland do ? throw a stick at it ??

Maybe they'd use a vaper to bring it down.

Jack1985

the_monkey wrote: »

Course there is !!!

What would Oireland do ? throw a stick at it ??

Something that really winds me up is how people are so dismissive of the Air Corps and emergency services alike in this country. As well as there being an agreement of combat air support by the RAF over EISN, the Learjets in the Air Corp also provide for an immediate deployment to confirm the situation visually on board before RAF air support would arrive. I mean you hardly expect a country of less than 5m to be self funding a 24hr Air Force with aircraft alike the Typhoon or F16's in a neutral state.

Tenger

Bazzy wrote: »

If there was a device onboard with a view to going off would that not do the same job ?
I don't want to come across as smart but is it practical to have a fighter jet beside it ?
Where do they make the decision to fire at it all they know is theres a device on board and the capt wants to get her down ASAP ?

The fighter escort is there to ensure the aircraft goes where it is supposed to. It is partially security theatre. However in the event the aircraft is taken over a la Sep 11th the jet can take steps to 'neutralise the threat' The device may have been designed to go off over populated area or the aircraft may be used as a manned missile.

(Also allows the RAF to practise close interception on airliner sized aircraft..TU-95's being harder to find over England!)

geneva geneva4444

I must say I'm getting starting to get bored of all these bad news stories relating to air travel. Its either bomb threat here, or shot down there, or lost in the ocean but where??

I mean in the last few months we've had; MH370 simply disappear, MH17 and various other military aircraft shot down in Ukraine, flights diverted away and cancelled from Tel Aviv because of rockets coming from Gaza.
If I'm not mistaken; between Ukraine, African desert crash and Taiwan crash... we had 3 civilian aircraft in a week go down with hundreds of fatalities.

This is not good stuff for the aviation industry.

Idbatterim

can any of the air corps planes even travel at the speed of 737 or a330's etc?

Jack1985

Idbatterim wrote: »

can any of the air corps planes even travel at the speed of 737 or a330's etc?

Air Corps Gulfstream can cruise at FL450 and at Mach 0.88, that's a much higher spec than the majority of civilian aircraft.

L1011

Idbatterim wrote: »

can any of the air corps planes even travel at the speed of 737 or a330's etc?

Both government jets can. Neither would have the agility or weaponry available on a fighter though!

geneva geneva4444

Jack1985 wrote: »

Air Corps Gulfstream can cruise at FL450 and at Mach 0.88, that's a much higher spec than the majority of civilian aircraft.

Hi Jack, question for ya... do you know the reg of the Air corps Gulfstream?

Jack1985

geneva geneva4444 wrote: »

Hi Jack, question for ya... do you know the reg of the Air corps Gulfstream?

251.

L1011

geneva geneva4444 wrote: »

Hi Jack, question for ya... do you know the reg of the Air corps Gulfstream?

251

They don't carry civilian registrations.

Jimmy444

The fact that they landed at their planned destination Manchester, which has plenty of built-up areas on it's approach, suggests to me they were 99% certain this was a hoax, but of course they had to follow the necessary protocols for any such incident. If they had any real concern, I think Prestwick is where they send threatened aircraft, away from population centres etc.

The man in the green teeshirt is about to enter a world of hurt!

billie1b

Idbatterim wrote: »

can any of the air corps planes even travel at the speed of 737 or a330's etc?

The PC9's have a top speed of 350kt and a cruise speed of 275kt, all 7 can be fitted with armour , they can hold 2 x Rocket Pods - Holding x 2.75” (70mm) ‘FN LAU 7’ Folding Fin Aerial Rockets
2 x .5” FN HMG - Each gun with a 250 round belt

geneva geneva4444

Cheers. I wasn't sure if IRL251 the Govt jet and the Air corps jets ye were speaking of were one and the same!

L1011

geneva geneva4444 wrote: »

Cheers. I wasn't sure if IRL251 the Govt jet and the Air corps jets ye were speaking of were one and the same!

There's two, a Gulfstream IV 251, and a Learjet 45 258

userod

Calibos wrote: »

Guaranteed this is a stupid fellow vaper taking a sneaky puff on his vapouriser and an even stupider fellow passenger to him/her not knowing what a vapouriser is or looks like and reporting 'suspicious behaviour' to the captain.

Just like the bus on the motorway incident in the UK a year or so ago.

I'll be back to say, 'called it!!' Shortly

oh , looks like you were completely wrong about that!

Calibos

Calibos wrote: »

Ok I was wrong.

It was indeed a drunken Chav bomb threat.

userod wrote: »

oh , looks like you were completely wrong about that!

No sh1t Sherlock!!

FYI. I was the first to mention drunken chav bomb hoaxers too though.