British Airways Cancels Flt. 223 Heathrow to Dulles Flight for "Security" Reasons (Friday 1/02/04)

Local Radio WMAL-AM | Friday, January 2, 2004 | Kristinn

[kristinn]

British Airways has cancelled another flight from London to Washington, D.C. today for security reasons. The flight is #223.

[Dog]

I found a Englis version that longjack is translating I am going to post it now...

[b4its2late]

I remember a few days ago the "news" showing the surface to air missles mounted on vehicles sitting in the DC area. This "stuff" that's happening now has probably been known about for some time.

[Donna Lee Nardo]

I guess time will tell which case it is. Either way, France is a 0 to me!

[b4its2late]

France is more like a -1 or -2 to me.... You're being kind. :-)

[nicmarlo]

Thanks for the heads up...looking forward to reading it.

[Mo1]

Mike Emmanuel on FoxNew reporting that military escorts have been sent to accompany "several" Air France flights coming to the US today.

Wasn't there a report that French flights into Vegas were being escorted?

[Dog]

I posted it...

[Mo1]

The cancellations of British, Mexican and French flights are tied to a Muslim connection and shoe bombs -- so says this article over here

Makes one wonder about those guys there were found in the wheel of the BA planes

[b4its2late]

Where?

[longjack]

Aktuell

TERRORALARM

Detailed Warning Grounds British Jumbojet

The airline British Airways has cancelled a flight from London to Washington only two hours before the planned start. A British military expert reports of tips, which tell of a plane with flight number 223 that shall be destroyed over or crashed into a building in the U.S. capital.

DPA

'British Airways Plane at London-Heathrow:  "There's a problem with this particular flight"

Washington/London: For the second consecutive day, the passengers who had already booked British Airways flight number 223 from London to Washington weren't flown. Shortly before the start the airline company cancelled the flight, referencing security concerns of the government. A spokeswoman for the British Airport Authority, BAA, said: "There is a problem with this specific flight, not with the passengers."

Defense expert Paul Beaver, once publisher of the renowned armed forces professional journal "Jane's", said about the sudden cancellation: "This is certainly highly unusual. Secret service information is very, very precise in such cases." Without naming his sources, Beaver explained: "We have, as I hear, secret service information that there was a plan to hi-jack the airplane and destroy it over Washington or to fly it into something. Washington was definitely the target." There is "exact and reliable" information that more than one group connected to the terror network Al-Qaida will act against the USA. One of these groups has its base in Latin America, the other one in "London or Paris".

On Wednesday flight 223 had departed as planned, on its arrival in Washington, however, the plane was halted away from the the terminal, passengers and crew were questioned by security personnel.

British Airways flight 217, which was scheduled to start before flight 223, took off this afternoon to Washington after a two-hour delay. Before the start, The U.S. authorities had asked for more information, according to information from the airline company.

In the meantime, France confirmed indirect media reports that several Air France flights have been accompanied by fighter jets while approaching Los Angeles during the week of New Year. Traffic undersecretary Dominique Bussereau said on radio station Europe1 Friday, that it is certainly conceivable that military planes followed passenger aircraft at a specific distance. "This was the case in the United States", said Bussereau. Air France had cancelled several flights to the USA for security reasons over Christmas.
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© SPIEGEL ONLINE 2004

"Spiegel-Online....Konkrete Warnung stoppt britischen Jumbojet

Translated by longjack

[cebadams]

“We have got intelligence, I am told, that there was a plan to take the aircraft and destroy it over Washington or fly it into something. " posted in this article over here.

[b4its2late]

Good job. Thanks.

[nicmarlo]

Thanks much for posting and the translation....this is pretty frightening stuff going on.

[longjack]

You're welcome.

Beaver is a credible source according to maquiladora in the other thread. I wonder why FOX NEWS hasn't picked that up?

longjack

[browardchad]

I wonder how Brigette Quinn got her job. She is not very good as a news person.

Agreed. I don't mute it, though, I turn it off. This morning, she read a wire bulletin about the AF plane making a forced landing. She stumbled through the report twice without stating where the landing was made, then finally tagged on Newfoundland at the tail end.

Quinn is a great example of what I consider mindlessness of the part of these "newsies" -- they read scripts and reports without comprehending anything they're reading. Ditto for interviews -- I've heard Quinn many times ask an interviewee a question which they just answered in their commentary, meaning that she not only fails to comprehend what she reads, but fails to listen to what's being said. It's too embarrassing to watch.

[longjack]

Hi longjack.....translate that for us.....and post it as a stand alone thread

Sorry, Dog. I saw this post after I had translated and posted the article.

Do you think this will work as it is? It's posted on this thread and cross-referenced on the other.

longjack

[saquin]

Do all U.S. airlines have reinforced cockpit doors now?

If so, I guess that's why there seems to be a new emphasis on hijacking international flights heading into the U.S. I hope these foreign airlines are putting sky marshals on flights into the U.S., like we asked them to.

I still don't think any hijacker would have an easy time commandeering a plane and taking it where he wants to. Just like with Flight 93 in Pennsylvania, people know now what these planes will be used for and they will fight back. At least, I hope they will. (Unless it's a plane from Paris full of cheese-eating surrender monkeys. Hmmm, maybe that's why the terrorists are enamored with AirFrance.)

[mombonn]

Shortly before the start the airline company cancelled the flight

I've wondered if they are trying to force repeated bookings of one-way tickets in hopes of nabbing some bad guys.

[longjack]

2 hours before the flight would mean most of the passengers would have shown up to check-in.

So they are trying to get a look at the passengers, I would say.

longjack

[Dr. Eckleburg]

obvious...BA infiltrated.

This may be one more reason why Blair has been so cooperative with Bush.

Wonder if any of the 9/11 hijackers flew BA?