BBC: RAF jets scrambled after 'incident' (possibly hijack?)

This is just appearing on the BBC news now.

RAF Typhoon jets have been launched to investigate an incident involving a civilian aircraft within UK airspace, the Ministry of Defence has said.

Reports said the aircraft was a Pakistani passenger plane which had been diverted from Manchester to Stansted Airp

Rumors suggest it was coming in from Lahore but has been diverted to Standsted instead.

Will update with more info when I get it.

An Essex Police spokeswoman added: "An incident has occurred on an aircraft. Police and partners are responding."

www.bbc.co.uk...

Could be an attempted hijacking??

rt.com...

UK fighter jets escort Pakistani civilian plane to London airport after ‘incident’

Vague info, but this is just breaking.

297 passengers and crew.

Really interested in this, starred.

After recent events i hope its just a precaution and nothing too serious, however i dont think its normal for the RAF to scramble and intercept a passenger plane for no reason. Especially given its starting point, i will keep a close eye on this thread for updates.

Thanks

Originally posted by mr-lizard

An Essex Police spokeswoman added: "An incident has occurred on an aircraft. Police and partners are responding."

www.bbc.co.uk...

Could be an attempted hijacking??

Would they divert it to Stansted if its a hijacking though? Surely if any risk they would keep the plane well away from the capitals airspace. Unless maybe its closer to our special units that deal with those things

ruvr.co.uk...

RAF Typhoon jets have been scrambled to intercept a Pakistan International Airways aircraft inbound to Manchester from Lahore, after is went off course following an incident on board the aircraft, The aircraft circled over the north of England before being escorted by the RAF into Stansted airport.

The Pakistan International Airways aircraft, a Boeing 777-380ER, flight number PK 709 with 297 passengers on board was inbound to Manchester from Lahore.

As it descended towards the north of England airport, it veered off course and began to circle.

RAF Typhoone rapid response aircraft were scrambled from RAF Coningsby to intercept the aircraft.

It is understood the captain of the aircraft reported an incident on board and switched on the emergency Squawk 7700 transponder.

Voice of Russia tracked the aircraft as it landed at Stansted airport in Essex at shortly after 14:00 UK time.

Stansted is the UK's designated hijack airport, although at this stage Esex Police are simply saying there is an incident aboard the aircraft.

So it's apparently landed.

Standsted apparently has a counter-terrorism unit there. So maybe they're taking no chances.

www.itv.com...

Lots of snippets of info, but no real truth as of yet.

My dad use to be a police officer in Essex he went to stanstead airport to practise mock up terrorist scenarios. Stanstead is kind of close to a place called Chelmsford where Essex police HQ is located also you have army barracks at Colchester which is also in Essex.

Keeping tabs on this one

Originally posted by mr-lizard
This is just appearing on the BBC news now.

RAF Typhoon jets have been launched to investigate an incident involving a civilian aircraft within UK airspace, the Ministry of Defence has said.

Reports said the aircraft was a Pakistani passenger plane which had been diverted from Manchester to Stansted Airp

Rumors suggest it was coming in from Lahore but has been diverted to Standsted instead.

Will update with more info when I get it.

Can someone explain to me please what difference jets will make in terms of the safety of the people on the aircraft. Is their agenda to shoot the aircraft out of the air in an unpopulated area if the ' terrorists' do not stand down ?

img.thesun.co.uk...

That image shows its alleged flight route. It was due to land in Manchester but got diverted, an emergency signal was sent out.

Allegedly no contact with the pilot????

What's going on?

RAF tri-star currently airborne over that area, wondering if that's been sent up in case an air to air refuel is required for the typhoons.

A squawk of 7700 and a fighter escort, something sure isn't right on board that's for sure!

Can other ATS members please post any links they find. My computer is slow and not on form, so it'll take me a while to update any info.

Thanks.

Passengers would be annoyed.
They made it so close to Manchester before being diverted.

reply to post by HelenConway

First of all, they send them up to investigate. The RAF and commercial pilots can visually communicate thru the windows if the situation prevents radio contact. The presence of the jets can possibly intimidate the on-board attacker, potentially getting him to stand down or get fuzzled enough to loose his nerve or be taken down. But the primary reason the jets are sent up is to force the plane to divert, or to shoot it down if it becomes a risk to people on the ground.

BTW - how is it that the person that posted this story first has no responses yet, but the other three duplicate threads all have discussion taking place?
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Oh crap, I just posted in one too!

"What is interesting in this case is that it would appear that the aircraft was only 10 minutes from landing - these are initial reports coming in - when they decided to divert to Stansted. So to actually change a destination 10 minutes from landing would certainly imply that there was some serious incident taking place."

BBC have updated a little.

www.bbc.co.uk...

"We don't know what the incident was: fighter jets are scrambled when there is a bomb threat, when there is a hijack, when the wrong transponder code is used or if an aircraft cannot communicate with the ground. Often the result is when there is an unruly passenger on board.

So hopefully it's just an unruly passenger and the pilot is taking no chances. Either way, it seems to have landed.

Originally posted by VincentVega
A squawk of 7700 and a fighter escort, something sure isn't right on board that's for sure!

According to what people say on twitter, 7500 is the code for "hijack", and 7700 is "emergency".

Goaty's News ‏@Goatys_News 1m
#Aviation #News/Correction: #Stanstead: 75 of 297 passengers evacuated from landed #Boeing777 flight #PIA709 from #Lahore - Sky News

The update a short time ago says seeing as the plane was diverted only ten minutes from landing, it should be considered a 'significant incident' The plane has now landed.

I don't think it was an unruly passenger as why would the pilot not respond after numerous trys, something must have had happen!!!

Why would the pilot not respond?

hosted.ap.org...

That photo is not of a B777, nor is the fighter a Eurofighter.

flightaware.com...
not sure how accurate this is, but it is based on real flights I believe.
the skies seem really quite around Stansted....
Does anybody have the flight number for the flight?