RE: BA plane at missile strike

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 11-07-02 AT 07:03 PM (GMT)]it wasn’t a BA a/c, as mentioned, it was a Highland Airways a/c, a Jetstream J31.
The flight was from Stornoway, on Lewis, to Benbecula (between North and South Uist), all in the Outer Hebridies.

The ship was a US Navy vessel, though what exactly the yanks are doing threatening to shoot down planes over the Minch, I don’t know. I doubt the vessel in question is the USS Vincennes.

Latest from BBC News online

The commander of an American NATO warship has been reported to aviation authorities after he ordered a scheduled passenger flight off its normal route.
It has been reported that the commander told the aircraft that it was entering a military area before issuing the order.

The Jetstream aircraft was travelling from the Hebridean island of Stornoway to Benbecula in the Western Isles on Tuesday when a warning came on an emergency panel.

The pilot of the Highland Airways flight turned off course before air traffic controllers intervened to bring it back onto its normal route.

The airline and air traffic controllers have formally complained to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

A CAA spokesman said: “We have had a report from an airline that a flight from Stornoway to Benbecula was addressed over the radio by a ship, presumably a military ship, that it should leave the area.

“There is no indication that there was any firing under way. The aircraft did leave the area.”

The CAA spokesman said the authority had no record of there being a restricted area or closed airspace in that area at the time.

He added: “The airline’s view is that it was entitled to be where it was.

‘Restricted zone’

“We have received the report from the airline, and we are looking at it.”

A spokesman for Highland Airways said: “On Tuesday a Highland Airways flight traveling from Stornoway to Benbecula at 0905 BST received a call from a US Navy Warship.

“The aircraft was warned that that it was entering a restricted zone and should alter its course immediately.

“The aircraft complied with the request but after further consultation with air traffic control discovered that it was not in any danger and carried on to Benbecula.”

The spokesman said he did not know the name of the warship, or whether the message from the ship was intended to be taken as an order.

It is thought the US warship, which was taking part in a NATO exercise, may have been firing missiles in the area.

This is the second incident in the past few days involving the same NATO operation off the west coast of Scotland.

On Tuesday a British frigate fired a shell into a loch eight miles off target and just one mile from the village of Durness.
Attachments:

RE: Lets blame 11/9 for everyt

but you could only ever do that in the States. It does make sense to have less members of the public milling about, if you’re trying to keep an eye on people acting suspiciously.

RE: Airspace capacity reduced after crash

From BBC News Online

German investigators have revealed that the pilots of the Russian plane involved in last week’s mid-air collision with a cargo plane which killed 71 people received contradictory instructions seconds before the crash.

They said voice recorders recovered from both aircraft showed Swiss air traffic controllers told the Russian pilots to descend, while the on-board warning system instructed them to climb.

All 69 people – including 45 schoolchildren – aboard the Russian Tu-154, and two crew members on the Boeing 757 were killed when the two aircraft collided at 35,000 feet (10,500 metres) over the German-Swiss border.

The revelation came as at least 1,000 people in the Russian city of Ufa attended an emotional service in memory of their dead.

The ceremony followed the early morning arrival of a plane carrying the bodies of 33 of the 71 people who perished when a Russian Tupolev crashed into a Boeing cargo jet last Monday night.

Funerals

The city of Ufa, in the Russian republic of Bashkortostan, lost 45 children in the crash.

On Monday, thousands of people gathered in the central square to pay their last respects to 33 of the victims.

Mourners crowded around wooden coffins bedecked with flowers, many clutching photographs of their loved ones who had lost their lives.

At the memorial service, Orthodox priests and Muslim clergymen offered prayers for the dead.

Then the coffins were taken by bus to the local cemetery and laid to rest.

The BBC’s Steve Rosenberg in Moscow says the tragedy has shocked Ufa and the country.

There is growing anger as the investigation continues, he says, with many people already pointing the finger of blame at air traffic controllers in Switzerland.

Conflicting orders

According to German authorities, cockpit warning systems told the Tu-154 to climb and the cargo jet to descend, just 45 seconds before the collision.

But voice recorders reveal that one second later, Zurich air traffic controllers told the Russian pilots to descend.

The Russian crew did not respond, so the Zurich control tower repeated the order 14 seconds later, investigators say.

The Russian plane responded and the two aircraft collided 30 seconds later.

Although the aircraft were flying over Germany at the time, they were under the control of the Swiss air traffic control body, Skyguide.

Investigations are being carried out by both Swiss and German authorities.

The Swiss inquiry is looking into the possibility of homicide through negligence, which carries a three-year jail term for anyone found guilty.

Irregularities

Earlier, the German weekly Der Spiegel reported that German air traffic controllers had tried to warn Skyguide that the planes were on a collision course.

But all attempts reportedly failed as the telephone network at Skyguide was down at the time for maintenance.

While Skyguide had initially pointed the finger at the Russian pilot’s failure to respond promptly to the air controller’s warning, it has been revealed that there were several other irregularities at the control centre on the night in question.

In addition to work apparently being carried out on the telephone network, the centre’s collision warning system was down for maintenance and only one controller was on duty at the time of the crash.

The controller, who warned the Russian pilot to change course just 44 seconds before the collision, has been described as overburdened by a German team investigating the crash.

RE: Swiss plans to breakeven next year

there was a plan, it was called project Phoenix or something.

RE: Air crash warning system ‘switched off’-new tw

Swiss Radio are now carrying Russian reports that it was the TU-154 crew who first contacted Skyguide about the nearby freighter, not the other way round.

RE: Swiss Pic

well, coincidentally, my flight this evening was on board HB-ISZ, teh same plane keltic snapped in Madrid.

All I want to say just now is… no matter how nice the painting is outside, the inside was falling to pieces. It definately requires a new interior, although the cloths on teh headrests still said Crossair, so how much Swiss can be blamed for it, I don’t know…

RE: Pic Of The Day-SXM!

ummm… Kabir, 732’s? surely they’ve allready been replaced by A319’s, or will be replaced by A318’s?

Or do you mean 742’s?

RE: Aeroflot says no to western aircrafts!

so are they stopping operating the 777 on transatlantic flights? Or is the fact that they’re leased make it ok for them to keep flying them?