False alarm

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 14-03-02 AT 12:34 PM (GMT)]Hi everyone,

Saw an intersting snippet of news last night on a French news channel on satellite TV. Here’s what it said (from memory).

They explained how a passenger plane had taken off from Toulouse on a flight to Paris. After a while, the captain noticed a smell of burning and identified it as an electrical wire which had melted. There was no immediate concern for the safety of the aircraft thanks to the redundancy of the systems. However, the pilot decided he needed to fly back to Toulouse. He announced his intention to the ATC, but, according to intrnational procedures, had to do that in English. He therefore said “Fire on board”. But the ATC understood “Five [men] on board” and thought the plane had been hijacked. Two Mirages 2000 were scrambled from Mont-de-Marsan and caught up with the passenger plane. They quickly realised there had been a misunderstanding but shadowed the plane all the same, unbeknownst to the passengers.
Lionel Jospin, France’s Premier, who was out and about campaining for the upcoming French Presidential election, rushed back to his office in Matignon when he was informed there was a highjack. It’s only later he learned it was a false alarm.
I dread to think of the potential misunderstandings that can occur, what with the various degrees of proficiency of French pilots and ATC in spoken English, coupled with the varying regional accents which exist in France in the first place.

The conclusion drawn by the reporter from the whole incident is that it shows that the emergency response system put into place after September 11 does seem to work.

I haven’t been able to find any further info about this, so if there is any inacuracy in this post, blame my faulty hearing/memory and /or the reporter.

Regards,

Snowman