Possible hijack?

a reply to: earthling42
Haven't you seen its a DHL Plane these one only transport packets ,Boxes etc. and no passengers IMHO.
So who would highjack such plane? some rogue Boxes?

a reply to: earthling42

It is odd to go way out of it's way.
It just turned it's transponder off.

Squawk codes "7501-7577 Reserved for use by Continental NORAD Region (CONR) (USA)"

Wiki

whatever that means...

originally posted by: earthling42
a reply to: Skid Mark

Well the Squawk made me ponder about a hijack although one would not expect it with a freight plane, but anything is possible of course.
If there was an issue, it could have landed somewhere else in the UK, really odd to circle its destination and then fly another 550 miles over europe to Leipzig in Gerrmany.

Exactly. Luton airport is where it circled, and that is in the path on the way to E. Mids, so they clearly wanted to land at Luton and cut their journey short.

Why would they want to do that though? And if it was a fault, severe enough to require emergency landing, why would they then go that far when the airport they were actually destined to get to is far, far closer?

Perhaps it was just something stopping them from landing at E. Mids, so they tried Luton, then gave up and went to Germany?

originally posted by: D0MiNAT0R 1OOO
a reply to: earthling42
Haven't you seen its a DHL Plane these one only transport packets ,Boxes etc. and no passengers IMHO.
So who would highjack such plane? some rogue Boxes?

Does this even need to be answered?
I take it you have seen the destructive power of a high velocity metal object hitting a major city or landmark?
Passengers or not, a plane is basically a missile you can manually aim at any target you like, and with nothing near the level of security of a passenger jet.

a reply to: Rocker2013

Yes, quite possible.

a reply to: Rocker2013

Fog at Luton and freezing fog at Midlands. Weather below minimums so they diverted to an available airport after circling to see if it cleared.

a reply to: Rocker2013

I ask the same thing. I see your point though. It would be better suited if fully fueled and packed full of Thermite.


Thanks for the update Zaphod.

a reply to: Zaphod58

But what's the squawk code 7520?

a reply to: Bigburgh

What they were assigned. Only 7500, 7600, and 7700 have dedicated meanings. You don't normally see one starting with 75, but it's not restricted to use.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Thank you.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Bigburgh

What they were assigned. Only 7500, 7600, and 7700 have dedicated meanings. You don't normally see one starting with 75, but it's not restricted to use.

But why they were assigned with code resereved to NORAD specifically?

a reply to: zilebeliveunknown

Because they're not in North America. A NORAD specific code only applies where NORAD has responsibility.