'Real and Definite Threat' Caused BA Flight Cancellation

The Scotsman ^ | Jan 02 2004 | By Caroline Gammell, PA News

[Dog]

'Real and Definite Threat' Caused BA Flight Cancellation

By Caroline Gammell, PA News

The cancellation of British Airways flight BA223 from Heathrow to Washington was caused by a “real and definite threat”, a defence expert warned today.

The plane had already started checking in passengers and was due to leave at 3.05pm.

But BA announced it had been cancelled at 1.15pm – less than two hours before take off – for security reasons.

Paul Beaver, a defence analyst, said: “This is certainly unusual. The intelligence is very, very precise which is why this one flight has been cancelled.

“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.

“Washington is the definite target.”

Mr Beaver said the information passed on to BA via the Government was likely to have come from American intelligence.

“All I know is there is a real and definite threat.”

He went on: “There is good and precise intelligence that there is more than one al Qaida or al Qaida-like group operating against the US.

“One is based in central America and the other is based in Europe – in London or Paris.”

Mr Beaver said it was not known whether operatives in these potential terror cells are carrying legal British passports.

Yesterday’s flight BA223 was also cancelled several hours before it was scheduled to depart after BA received “security advice” from the Government.

On New Year’s Eve, the same flight had been kept on the runway for three hours after landing at Washington Dulles International Airport to allow security officials to board the plane and question passengers.

The Boeing 747 was escorted into Dulles by two F-16 fighter jets.

An Aeromexico flight from Mexico City to Los Angeles was also cancelled after US authorities refused to allow it to land.

Flight 490 was cancelled after Homeland Security officials said they were concerned it might be a safety risk, said a spokesman for Mexico’s President Vicente Fox.

[Miss Marple]

I cherish my award, but alas, there is no honorarium, as those who bestowed it are without funds, I believe. :-)

[abner]

From someone who is at work and can't post right now:

I'm at work and can't post. Here's a few more tidbits of info:

http://www.forbes.com/markets/newswire/2004/01/02/rtr1196286.html

http://www.arabtimesonline.com/arabtimes/breakingnews/view.asp?msgID=4252

Second article focuses on 747s versus 777s.

[Deguello]

Bump.

[jstolzen]

Another theory for the stowaways..

Infected with:

- Smallpox
- Ebola
- something else REALLY contagious and nasty.

We HAVE to start thinking like the bad guys do, or they are GOING to get through the defenses at one point or another.

"Simple" crash-and-burn does not appear to me to be in the AQ gameplan at this point.

This time, I think they want to use WMD.

[CWOJackson]

Well, I'm sure it's still an honor in and of itself.

[Howlin]

I'm so jealous.

You're jealous?

Imagine how I feel; after all the work I put in, too!

[nicmarlo]

I bet the pilots are able to fly any plane in the fleet...I'm really thinking it's NOT the crew....rather, as someone already posted...SOFTWARE in the plane, or something placed INTO the plane (which may allow for some kind of remote control).

[Azzurri]

I still think they would need to subdue the passengers (gas?) to pull it off.

Right, I seriously hope those with access to an airplane ventilation system and the food services are being scrutinized very closely.

[debg]

They are trying to accomodate passengers who were bumped from other flights. (I have no idea about your pilot questions.)

[BureaucratusMaximus]

BUT..if (God forbid) a nuke ever DID go off on US soil..would it convince the idiots of the error in their thinking?

Prolly not.

I am convinced with all of our technology and capability that we CAN close the borders FAR more effectively than the porous walk-through mess that we have today. The pols simply lack the political WILL to do it.

Agreed.

[sweetliberty]

"I wonder if that dead stowaway is related to this?"

I think it is unlikely. Dead stowaways seem to be fairly common. What concerns me more is that enough stowaways can get through security so as to make it that common.

[CWOJackson]

I do believe I saw us both get honorable mention in one of his 86,000 preliminary threads leading up to the award.

[Eowyn-of-Rohan]

You have to wonder if the flight number could be in code as well...

[Howlin]

Always the bridesmaids, aren't we? :-)

[jstolzen]

Ventilation system is a real concern IF the bad guys have bioweapons. (Contained space and all to maximize impact of contagions).

As the incubation period for many of these things is up to a week or two, we may not even know what hit us if/when they decide to let the bio genie out of the bottle.

I know the US declared post-9/11 that it is our "official policy" to retaliate with the nuclear arsenal if any WMD attack ever occurs on our soil.

I truly think we are going to see this policy put to the test, and pray that "Dubya" has the political will to give the order should it ever come to that. For I definitely believe that the bad guys are psycho enough to try it.

[Dog]

LOL!

[CWOJackson]

Yes, but remember who the groom is.

Yeeeeccchhhh!

[bootless]

It all depends on the pilot's type rating - some can fly both, some can't. The more type ratings a pilot has, the more opportunities he or she has to bid the trips they want.

[Pilsner]

Am I the only one who thinks that British officials should have stuffed six members of the SAS into the cockpit, loaded the plane as usual, taxied out on the runway, turned sideways, shut the engines off and then announced that the flight was cancelled?

In trying to avoid locking the barn door after the horse is gone, overseas officials keep turning the light on to check for rats in the trap before they hear it go "snap." We need to know if we are getting good intelligence and the terrorists are being scared off, or if we have a few Al Queda types talking up fake terror plans because they know we are listening and want to yank our chains.