Two Canadian CF-18 fighter planes escorted an Air Canada jet as it landed in Vancouver after a threat, but police said passengers were never in danger.
Officials were tightlipped about the type of threat that prompted the two fighter jets from Canadian Forces Base Comox to scramble and intercept the Boeing 767 on Tuesday as it flew to Vancouver from Toronto.
“The emergency landing took place as a result of an unspecified threat,” Cpl. Peter Thiessen of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police told a news conference. “It was a safe, routine landing and the passengers deplaned as normal.”
Neither police nor airline officials would say how many passengers were aboard.
“Our investigation has determined there was no real threat at any time to any passengers during this flight,” Thiessen said.
British Columbia Solicitor General Rich Coleman told radio station CKNW that Air Canada received a threatening e-mail, but Thiessen would not comment on that.
No passengers were detained by police or other officials, he said.
Flight 109 originated in Halifax and stopped in Toronto before arriving Tuesday afternoon in Vancouver.
Thiessen wouldn’t say if there were any suspects in the threat.
Norad, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, informed the Vancouver Airport Authority that an Air Canada jet was being intercepted and escorted by fighter planes, an airport spokeswoman said.
“This is a routine air sovereignty operation,” said Capt. Dave Muralt of Norad.
By: Bmused55 - 29th April 2004 at 09:54
I echo your thoughts.
Making a big hoo ha out of nothing seems to be the speciality of the media
By: mmitch - 29th April 2004 at 09:52
ANN reports that the Canadian authorities received a bomb threat against the aircraft but it turned out to be a hoax.
http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?ContentBlockID=ad183435-605d-48be-b591-a0099eb477fc&
mmitch.
By: wysiwyg - 29th April 2004 at 09:51
I would imagine the reason for the fighter escort could be incase there may be a small device onboard which could be intended to provide enough disturbance to then enable an aircraft takeover. All options have to be covered. If the aircrfat was taken over the fighters were probably there to destroy it. Our RAF supposedly routinely ‘practice’ shooting down commercial jets since 911.
Also, I wish the media would stop reporting emergency landings when a precautionary landing has taken place. The two events are quite different however they always seem to chose the one that has the higher scare factor!
By: Bmused55 - 29th April 2004 at 08:59
interesting.
Not everyday you look out of the window and see fighterjets escorting you.
By: Gerry H - 28th April 2004 at 23:51
Quick note
This wasn’t a diversion the plane landed where it was heading to. The pilots requested an escort. Which strikes me rather odd, I know that that would be standard proceedure but if the threat was concealed inside the airplane now instead of affecting 1 plane it has the opportunity to affect 3… food for thought
By: greekdude1 - 28th April 2004 at 23:39
“This is a routine air sovereignty operation,” said Capt. Dave Muralt of Norad.
Oh yeah. If I was on this flight and I looked outside the window and saw an F-18, this exact quote would have come to my mind! 😮
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April 28, 2004 at 10:57 pm