Plane or tank spotting?

RE: Plane or tank spotting?

At Ronaldsway airport in the Isle of Man, one can sit in the departure lounge and see the apron on one side and a field full of cows on the other side.

Nothing too unusual about that I suppose, but I always have visions of militant explosive fresians, like the exploding sheep in the game “Worms”!

RE: Plane or tank spotting?

Even Leeds/bradfords moor and “Spotters Hill” have been closed! :O

RE: Plane or tank spotting?

According to CNN.com, they are not going to shut the airport, as it would “be a victory for terroists”.

Heres the article.

LONDON (CNN) — British officials ruled out closing London Heathrow — Europe’s busiest airport — in response to reports of a terrorist threat, because such a move would have been a victory for terrorists, the UK home secretary says.

“We didn’t consider closing Heathrow Airport because those who are threatening us would have been the victors,” David Blunkett said.

“The economy of our country, international trade and the free transport of people would have all been completely disrupted. … This would have been a catastrophic thing to have done.”

He urged the public to be on the lookout for any suspicious behaviour, saying: “We hope we can get through the next few days without any incident.”

On Tuesday, the government launched a massive military and police operation that has seen 450 troops deployed at the airport. Armoured cars and tanks have been stationed at the airport’s main entrance, and military trucks have been positioned outside key buildings.

Small teams of soldiers and police officers, all armed with rifles, were walking side by side, patrolling airport terminals and the main entrances to the airport parking lots.

Scotland Yard has refused to reveal the substance of the threat, but terror experts said it pointed to a possible missile attack on a plane similar to the one carried out by al Qaeda terrorists in Kenya last year. In that attacks, two shoulder-fired missiles were fired at an Israeli airliner but missed.

The Metropolitan Police has said it was possible al Qaeda would use the end of the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday to mount attacks, and that the heightened security “relates to a potential threat to the capital.”

“From time to time, it is necessary to raise levels of security activity. We think it is prudent to do so now,” the police said.

Speaking in parliament, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said: “Terrorist threats are not happening just in this country, but in every European country and every country across the globe. As a result of that, we do sometimes have to take measures we would rather not take in order to give us the security we need.”

Meanwhile, Labour Party chairman John Reid said the nature of the threat against London was similar to the September 11, 2001, attacks, although he later said he did not mean that the threat at Heathrow was of that scale.

“This is about a threat of the nature that massacred thousands of people in New York,” Reid said during a visit to Manchester, in response to a question about the increased security in London.

“I am not even going to take seriously those people who suggest this is part of some sort of game,” he said.

But later he said his comments had been misinterpreted, and that he was referring to the overall threat posed by terrorism, not a specific threat to Britain.

“I was asked, what was my response to those people who said that what was going on at Heathrow and elsewhere was all part of a public relations exercise, a spin,” Reid told the BBC.

“And I said that I didn’t think that was even worthy of an answer — that we were dealing with a huge problem, the nature of the phenomenon of international terrorism which gave us things like the Twin Towers in New York.

“And the suggestion that any government would use that sort of subject and phenomenon for spin and public relations I thought was beneath contempt,” Reid said.

He said his comparison to September 11 was “misinterpreted, and I can understand why, by someone thinking that I had said that the scale of the threat at Heathrow was the same as the scale of the threat in New York. That was not said, it was not meant.”

RE: Plane or tank spotting?

Really does make me wonder if I really want to go to New York. I leave 2 weeks tomorrow on United. I mean flying to America on an American Airline from London. Must be a high risk target.

RE: Plane or tank spotting?

Yard may shut Heathrow

Scotland Yard chief Sir John Stevens said today that he is prepared to close Heathrow Airport if there is an “imminent” terrorist threat.

The airport is already at the centre of a massive security operation involving troops, amid fears that terrorists could try to shoot a jumbo jet out of the sky using a surface-to-air missile.

At a special briefing at New Scotland Yard, Sir John refused to give details about the present threat to Heathrow. He did, however, admit that the possibility of closing the airport was an option, while senior officers said police were being deployed along flight paths into Heathrow.

Sir John spoke as it was confirmed that ministers had seriously considered a total shutdown of Heathrow under the current state of alert. They decided not to take the ultimate step only because of the “catastrophic” impact on Britain’s links with the world – and because it would have been a surrender to terrorism.

Other key details to emerge today are that:

* Police have mounted the biggest security operation ever seen, involving up to 2,000 of their officers and soldiers in a “pan-London operation” to protect targets in the capital;

* Secret government papers show “it is a certainty” that there are still groups and individuals at large in Britain who pose a ” present and real” terrorist threat to public safety at home and abroad.

Sir John would not give details of other possible targets in London, but said that the Met is working closely with British Transport Police to protect the Tube.

As armed police and the Army maintained a ring of steel around Heathrow today, Home Secretary David Blunkett made clear that the closure of the world’s busiest international airport had been seriously contemplated.

In clear confirmation of the fears of a missile attack on an incoming or outgoing flight, Mr Blunkett said that measures were now in place to watch passengers and protect aircraft, “particularly in terms of aircraft landing”. The Home Secretary continued: “We hope we can get through the next few days without an incident. I hope we can.”

Sir John Stevens said the present level of threat at Heathrow, though higher than the one facing the rest of London, was still not described as “imminent” – the highest level when security forces had identified suspects planning an immediate attack.

Troops could be deployed to guard central London in the event of an emergency terror threat, he said, but there were no plans to do so at present.

Details of the thinking behind the high-profile defences came as it emerged today that a genuinely independent assessment of secret Government papers shows a real and present threat.

Lord Carlile QC, the leading barrister appointed by the Government to examine the fairness of the new emergency terrorism laws brought in after 11 September, made absolutely clear that there are both foreigners and UK citizens plotting terrorism.

“From the material I have seen, it is a certainty that there remain in the United Kingdom individuals and groups who pose a present and real threat to the safety of the public here and abroad,” he said.

Meanwhile, Labour Party chairman John Reid got into a muddle today after comparing the danger facing London with 11 September.

Asked if the deployment of troops at Heathrow was an over-the-top reaction as a war against Iraq looms, he had angrily replied: “This is not a game. This is about a threat of the nature that massacred thousands of people in New York.”

But he later downplayed his warning and claimed his original remarks had been “misinterpreted”.

Dr Reid told Radio 4’s World At One: “It was precisely the suggestion that any government, this Government included, would use such a serious subject as international terrorism which gave us such things as New York for their own purposes of spin or public relations, I just found pretty contemptible.

“Now that was misinterpreted, I can understand why, by someone thinking that I had said that the scale of the threat at Heathrow was the same as the scale of the threat in New York. That was not meant. I am glad to have the chance to clear that up.”

http://www.thisislondon.com/news/articles/3348169?source=EveningStandard

RE: Plane or tank spotting?

The current threat is equal in severity to the threat the US faced prior to 9/11, according to the Gov’t.

RE: Plane or tank spotting?

Just to let you know my dad left the Police to head up the Assests Recovery Agency in N.I, which basically takes all the money off durg dealers, paramilitaries who cant show how they legally got the money.

I suppose LHR isnt a big risk but there is always a chance and i dont worry for more than a microsecond on the matter!

RE: Plane or tank spotting?

If those tanks are not Russian you dont have to worry. :9

Its just a precautionary measure…LHR being so big it needed this type of tight security badly.

RE: Plane or tank spotting?

wouldn’t worry about it too much…the risk can’t be much bigger than patroling the streets of Belfast at the moment…

RE: Plane or tank spotting?

My dad is now flying to LHR every monday coming back ontuesday. This is a bit worrying!