TA-THREATS: Bomb Alert Forces New York Bound Plane to Land, RAF Fighters Scrambled.

A plane bound for New York was forced to land at London's Stansted International airport after a bomb alert was called in to a Greek newspaper. Passengers on the aircraft were notified and were let off as the plane landed. Stansted is the designated landing zone for aircraft with problems related to terrorism and the Olympic Airlines plane sits waiting to be boarded by Bomb Squad personnel. As the events were unfolding RAF Tornado fighters were scrambled from an undisclosed base which escorted the plane to Stansted, It is also unconfirmed that several fighters were scrambled to protect London and Brighton, the site of the Labour Party conference where Prime Minister Blair is staying.



The vulnerability of flights to smuggled explosive devices will make any hint of a threat cause to divert a flight. The result is disruptive and a means of terrorism. No group has claimed responsibility and this may tie in with recent anti-terror arrests in the city.



Related News Links:
MSNBC
SkyNews DirtyBomb Story


Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
Yusuf Islam... aka...Cat Stevens flight diverted
TA-ATTACKS: 2 Planes Crash in Russia, Second Plane Transmits Hijacking


[edit on 26-9-2004 by Banshee]

[edit on 27-9-2004 by Nerdling]

Interesting that this is the first time an escort has been used in British airspace.

www.news24.com...




[edit on 26/9/2004 by Mirthful Me]

Small point I know, but the plane was not 'London bound' - it was heading for New York (JFK).

Interested to know what happened here. Sky News are reporting it was the pilot who radioed for help and requested the escort. Some incident onboard must have brought this to his attention.

Hope it wasn't some nutter 'joking; they had a bomb.

Let me guess, they found a note in the toilet saying "there is a bomb on board"....

Well, it's only happened about 40 times, so odds on this some joker again.

The BBC's Athens correspondent Richard Galpin told BBC News 24 the incident happened after an elderly man called a Greek newspaper anonymously and told them there was a bomb on board.

news.bbc.co.uk...

Some old fruitcake.

Originally posted by lister
Small point I know, but the plane was not 'London bound' - it was heading for New York (JFK).

No need to minimize the error... the original post did not contain it... the error was "Edited" In.

I unfortunately cannot change this.

Originally posted by Nerdling
A plane bound for New York was forced to land at the London's Stansted International airport after a bomb alert was called in. As the events were unfolding an RAF security umbrella descended over the capital. An undisclosed number of jet's are now patrolling the south east of England.

I cannot substantiate the security umbrella, nor the "undisclosed number of jets" (Nerdling, please note a possessive is inappropriate in this context). This is not my original post... it addressed what actually has been reported.

The vulnerability of flights to smuggled explosive devices will make any hint of a threat cause to divert a flight. The result is disruptive and a means of terrorism. No group has claimed responsibility and this may tie in with recent anti-terror arrests in the city.

There is nothing that suggests that this is related to anti-terror arrests in London... The flight originated in Athens, Greece and was bound for New York City in the good old U.S. of A. The U.K. became involved when the flight was diverted to Stansted Airport.


[edit on 26/9/2004 by Mirthful Me]

ACTUALLY

1. There is a designed chain of events for a scenario like this. Fighters are scrambled from Quick Reaction pads at a nearby RAF base and will intercept the plane. Fighters will also launch as a backup incase a problem with the first two arises. These will sit above London or just outside the Capital just incase another airliner makes a run on the Capital. At the time of interception the Prime Minister will be notified and asked how he wishes to proceed.

2. Any two major threats of terrorism that happen within just days of each have the potential to be tied together.

Lets see if a bomb turns up .... i very much doubt it

They will not be checking the plane for bombs untill 9pm UK time in case there is some form of timed device on the plane,

They say it could take up to 12 hrs to check the plane





[edit on 26-9-2004 by asala]

Originally posted by Mindsmog
Lets see if a bomb turns up .... i very much doubt it

A bomb squad search procedure can take up to 12 hours.

Why was the plane diverted to the UK when it's no where near the flight path? Surely Spain or France would have been closer.

Originally posted by Britman
Why was the plane diverted to the UK when it's no where near the flight path? Surely Spain or France would have been closer.

Actually, the advisor to skynews explained this on air.

When you look at a globe and the flightpaths taken by airliners then you realise that the shortest distance takes it over/near the UK.

And, Stansted is an airport specifically designed to handle a situation like this.

foxnews.com(AP)
"Flight 411 Olympic for America has a bomb for Iraq," a caller to the Ethnos daily said, according to a tape the newspaper made available to journalists. In a second call, a voice that sounded like a different person said, "Are you listening? Flight 411 Olympic for America, bomb. America will see. Six o'clock message for you."

Certainly not typical of recent terrorist events where no contact was made until after the fact, we are obligated to take all threats seriously. The mere threat of a terrorist event validates the effectiveness of asymmetric warfare (terrorism).

www.foxnews.com...

Well looks like the drama�s over,

The Flight 411 Olympic has been cleared and is on its way to NewYork,

One of the passengers was a rescue firefighter, who helped after Sept 11,

He said he was a little nevours, but said they all remained calm,

One of the passengers told that when the plane landed they were faced with men with machine guns, as the walked down the planes steps they were told remove and drop any items they had in there pockets even passports


www.sky.com...