Posted on 08/20/2017 6:17:52 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
THE last thing you want to see when you look out the window of your plane is an air force fighter jet on your tail.
But that’s exactly what terrified passengers on board a flight from Spain to Britain spotted overnight, sparking panic on board the budget airline.
Jet2 flight 1204, a Boeing 737-800, was part-way through its journey from the tourist hotspot of Malaga to Birmingham when it passed through French air space.
That’s when two Mirage 2000 fighter jets suddenly appeared and shadowed the aircraft for more than 15 minutes, AirLive reported.
Passengers on board the Jet2 flight from Spain to Britain were nervous about two French air force fighter jets tailing their plane.Source:Flickr
Passenger Sarah Hatfield told the BBC that one of the jets was so close she could read the writing on its tailfin. Her daughter Emily took a picture on her mobile phone.
Passenger Emily Hatfield snapped this photo of a fighter jet shadowing the flightSource:Twitter
Cabin crew were alerted and they informed the pilot.
It was eventually announced that there was nothing to worry about, Ms Hatfield said.
But she described the mood on board as “a mixture of excitement at seeing the fighter so close up and terror as to if we were about to get shot down”.
The incident, Saturday afternoon local time, came on the back of deadly terror attacks in Spain.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
Looks like a Rafale to me, but what do I know?
I’ve seen fighters form up on jetliners before if they happen to be going the same direction. Kinda cool to see the pilots waving at the airliner passengers.
If the fighter were about to shoot you down you wouldn’t be able to see him.
If they’re in formation there’s no worries. If they were going for a shoot they be on the 6 and the passengers would never see it coming.
They could have hung back a few hundred meters and been invisible to the passengers.
They were deliberately showing the (white) flag.
That’s a Mirage-2000. The shape of the air intakes and wing design (”classic” delta with no wing-tip pylons) show it’s a Mirage.
The planes near Spain can be seen mainly thru the panes.
Perhaps, but alas, tis only a Mirage :)
Don’t attempt to take off in heavy percip. The planes in Spain fall mainly in the rain.
““(My husband) was terrified and it didn’t help that loads of other passengers came by us to look out at it,” she said.””
Your husband is gay.
Thank you for your comment...saved me the time.
Genius, times three!
Those are just pretty airplanes. They have a subtle edge over the F-106.
Lady, tell your husband to remove his pink p#ssy hat. Better yet, dump the husband and find yourself a real man!
This.
Pretty standard procedure to send up someone to take a look if the ATC loses comms with the aircraft. Passengers were “terrified” of a fighter escort? What has become of Europe?
The planes near Spain can be seen mainly thru the panes.
XLNT
The U.S. military frequently flies helicopters and other aircraft north-south over the Cascade Mt western foothills, just to the east of where I live.
Thursday night a formation of choppers and what I can only conclude was a C-130 configured for aerial refueling flew over, headed south, low and slow. The C-130 was outlined by steady, bright blue lights.
Night chopper refueling exercise?
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