Jet 2 flight ‘EXS49Y’ from Dalaman to Manchester was escorted to Stansted Airport by Typhoon fighters last night due to a suspected bomb threat.
Two RAF Typhoon fighter jets have escorted the airliner to Stansted.
Jet2 told me:
“We can confirm that flight LS922 DLM to MAN diverted to London Stansted this evening under the direction of UK Air Traffic Control. The aircraft has landed safely & has taxied to a remote stand. We are currently liaising with London Stansted Airport & the relevant authorities.”
A Jet 2 Airbus A321 G-HLYB inbound to Manchester from Dalaman was intercepted by 2 RAF Typhoons on a QRA this evening pic.twitter.com/kwrG94DCJM
— Air & Sea Intel (@air_intel) October 12, 2022
An RAF spokesman said:
“The RAF can confirm Quick Reaction Alert Typhoon aircraft were launched this evening from RAF Coningsby to intercept a civilian aircraft that was causing concern. The aircraft was safely escorted to Stansted Airport.”
The aircraft was met by police on landing.
Essex Police said in a statement:
“Shortly before 9pm, we received a report of a potential threat on board the flight. It was escorted to Stansted Airport, where it landed safely and was parked away from the main passenger terminal. Officers were then able to establish there was no threat on board. Onward travel was then organised for the passengers and the runway was reopened.”
In a statement, Jet2 said:
“The aircraft landed safely and taxied to a remote stand, and customers have now disembarked. Our teams are working very hard to look after customers, and we would like to apologise to everyone onboard for any inconvenience or upset caused by this unforeseen incident. We understand that the authorities were alerted to a potential security threat, however this has been downgraded and the incident has been declared as over.”
Deleted initial response as I’m mixing my airports up and talking bollocks as a result. Doh!
It’s stirring stuff when the RAF send in the Calvary but in reality their options are very limited. If they suspected a commercial flight had been hijacked and was heading for a building would they take the decision to shoot it down over a populated area?
Almost certainly. In that scenario everyone on board is already dead. If shot down, debris would cause significant damage to property & no doubt some loss of life but it could be timed well enough to limit this.
Surely less than if they allowed it to plough in to Canary wharf at 500 mph in one piece.
Absolutely agree but things would happen quickly so response times very limited, but just posing the what if.😉
btw your surname Weston-not uncommon but my best pal in the old colonial days was Dennis Weston from Nairobi. We both shipped down from the Empire shutting shop at the same time in 1963-he from Kenya, me from Rhodesia.
Cheers
Hi geoff. Some details regards that.
The RAF would not take that decision. I believe it goes like this:
Intell is received by the UK, it is passed onto the RAF directly by MoD and or intelligence agencies.
The RAF scramble QRA, either (N) or (S) depending where.
The plane is intercepted, and they try to attain radio contact, fire flares, use cannon, and so on.
UK NADOC ( or UK NASOC or whatever it is called this week as they keep changing names ) has a direct line to Downing Street.
NADOC ( National AIr Defence Operations Centre ) in the hole at High Wycombe ( Naphill to be precise ) are responsible for the UK AD posture
( that means the ASCS / QRA / ATC / radar sites and so on )
The decision is then made by the PM or a senior minister if the PM is unable.
They then shoot the aircraft down, and yes I think if ordered too they would.
OT, but related in my opinion, is that this is one of the reasons why there is the UK/Ireland agreement with access to airspace. If the threat is from the west over the Atlantic the sooner it is intercepted the better, fly there direct, not faffing about avoiding Ireland. We are not “defending Ireland” militarily. We are defending ourselves. And to be fair if that airliner was headed for an Irish target, hardly likely I know, of course we should do it as Ireland cannot.
There are forward locations in the west for QRA dets if necessary.
The problem is the response time for threats from the south, and the time it takes for QRA to reach it from Coningsby. I’ve no doubt it is quick and the procedure takes mere minutes, but then the time for the Typhoon to reach the area before the plane is already over the SE urban areas.
The key is getting the intelligence in time.
Ministers, the MoD, and the RAF all practice this stuff.
Daniele-the extent of your detailed knowledge is amazing! Thank you my friend-all makes sense. The attention to detail is one of the features that makes the UK great. Here in SA things are deteriorating all round under the rule of the criminal ANC although much to my surprise, SA has concluded a maintenance agreement with SAAB for our Gripens with a couple back in the air already but never in a position to initiate a hot intercept a-la RAF. Cry the Beloved Country(Klonkie!)
31 degrees in Durban today. This time of the year our weather is all over the place! 19 degrees on Sunday.
Pleasure mate. Did you see K’s link with his interviews on “Legacy Conversations” on Youtube? I’m still slowly going through it as it is rather long.
Legacy Conversations – Chris Coomer Episode 2 – SAAF Intelligence Officer – YouTube
I wonder if there is a specific care pathway laid out for the poor pilot that has to follow that order. The person that presses the button on a airliner full of children and families is not going to walk way with good mental health, or make consideration for their future.
Also the families and relatives, knowing your loved one died in a terror attack is brutal, knowing your own government ordered the downing of the aircraft would again be a whole new level of mental trauma and potential Long term harm.
Pretty horrible all around really.
Hi J
Yes, and typical of you with your experience and knowledge in that field to wonder that.
I’ve no idea. But you would think so wouldn’t you. It is not one any minister would want to face, they’re damned either way?
Luckily our intelligence agencies do a fantastic job fighting these evil bastards.
Yes indeed Daniele, makes you realise just why it’s really important to invest the money in really good intelligence services. Prevention is always better than cure, especially in regards to the sort of bastards who would undertake terror attack on an airliner or use and airliner full of people as a weapon.
Just a quick question – are our QRA Typhoon’s Tranche 1?
No. They stopped using the t1s in that role some time back now. There aren’t enough pilots even if they wanted to use them.
Gotcha – so it would seem the T1s aren’t flying at all now?