“VANCOUVER – Two Canadian fighter jets escorted a Cathay Pacific passenger plane to Vancouver International Airport on Saturday due to a security threat.
Defence department officials said there was a bomb threat aboard the plane which originated in Hong Kong, but could not provide details.
CF18 Hornet fighter jets acting under the North American Aerospace Defence Command intercepted the plane and flew alongside it until it landed safely around 1:40 local time.”
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100515/national/plane_threat
video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kje6jA02ksY&playnext_from=TL&videos=dOkSt65MMPc
By: nJayM - 19th May 2010 at 22:47
Being objective about it, sure expensive fighter escort but it may have marginally delayed or disrupted plans for an in-flight detonation which could as already stated have been over densley populated land.
What could the two fighter pilots do if a determined terrorist actually detonated irrespective of the fighters alongside?
One of the few possibilities is that the pilots could pin point exactly where the airliner went down should the bomb/s have been detonated in flight.
It could have been over any part of the earth, land (densely or sparsely populated) or ocean. Given that the terrorist unless in the cockpit – (unlikely nowadays) would not be sure of the exact nature of the terrain below the airliner.
Anyway happy result. Democracy is getting more expensive by the day but would anyone want the alternatives?
By: KabirT - 16th May 2010 at 20:54
What on earth could two fighters do about a bomb onboard ??shoot it down ?? isn’t that the same result
Shoot it down before it gets over a populated area maybe?
By: steve rowell - 16th May 2010 at 10:50
Defence department officials said there was a bomb threat aboard the plane which originated in Hong Kong
What on earth could two fighters do about a bomb onboard ??shoot it down ?? isn’t that the same result
By: Arabella-Cox - 16th May 2010 at 10:23
Another half a million $ down the drain. Or does it give the Air Force something to do?
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May 16, 2010 at 8:16 am