'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.

[nicmarlo]

yep...numbers and symbols

[Dog]

What if the time bomb is the pilot?

[Mo1]

Okay. I could buy AQ destroying this flight over D.C. airspace, but them attempting to hijack the flight - just honestly can't see it happening. Hijacking a cargo plane, yes, but not another passenger plane.

They went after the WTC twice .. and if they think they could pull it off, they'll try anything

[Apple_Hills]

Or maybe trained sleeper pilots?

[sistergoldenhair]

What if the time bomb is the pilot?

Could be the ultimate "dirty bomb". An exploding plane would spread debris for miles.

[mhking]

Is the problem in question with the actual aircraft itself, or with the passengers/crew involved?

[Coop]

They went after the WTC twice .. and if they think they could pull it off, they'll try anything

They did it twice, with different methods. I have no reason to believe Al Qaeda would foolishly think that its members could pull off another 9/11 style hijacking. The passengers would slaughter them, the pilots would do barrel rolls in the aircraft before the door was breached, etc. But a bomb, missile, hijacked cargo plane or suicidal passenger plane pilot, those scenarios I could see [perish the thought!!] playing out.

[Mo1]

I wonder if the focus of 223 flight number could have been 223 as in Feb 23 ?

Didn't the last tape from Bin Laden's #2 guy mention something about Feb??

[waxhaw]

Central and South America will be the most vulnerable link in the security chain regarding air highjacking. I've lived 22 years in Latin America and bribery will get one whatever one requires. At this time of the year airport security personnel will be short-staffed, hungover or drunk; their pockets will be empty due to the Christmas and New Year's indulgences and many will be resentful because the gringos are requesting them to do more at the time of year when they traditionally do less.

[debg]

Another BA flight from London is enroute to Dulles now (Flt 217). It's scheduled to arrive at 3:47 pm (east coast time). It will be interesting to hear if the passengers are allowed to disembark normally or if they will also go thru a reverse screening process.

[antiRepublicrat]

I'd love to know these details about why the flight was cancelled, but then so would the terrorists. I prefer we and therefore they remain ignorant about how our government is thwarting their plans.

[jstolzen]

Suitcase nuke aboard the plane somehow? (Does Britain scan/bomb check all luggage? Would plutonium [vs normal gunpowder] even get picked up on the scanner watching for "traditional" explosives?)

I still don't think it's the passangers or crew, but THE PLANE.

I agree..something has the feds seriously spooked. I would've expected to see all of this going on with NYC planes as well, though, given what we know of the "targets" that AQ keeps mentioning.

Check out this interview with an AQ bigshot. Interesting what he says about WMD..personally - I think they have them - and will use them < 2/4.

http://www.why-war.com/news/2003/09/21/alqaidas.html

[Dog]

I wonder if it will have fighter escort?

[Mo1]

They did it twice, with different methods. I have no reason to believe Al Qaeda would foolishly think that its members could pull off another 9/11 style hijacking. The passengers would slaughter them, the pilots would do barrel rolls in the aircraft before the door was breached, etc.

True .. but weren't there reports of them being pilots .. also wasn't there also reports of missing flight suits?

I'm not saying this is what they will do .. I'm just saying we can't let our guard down on anything

[Neets]

I don't have a clear memory of that Mo, but you can't take anything for granted with these people.

[Rutles4Ever]

What if the time bomb is the pilot?

If it's the pilot, then we don't know which one it is, because we keep detaining flights that have different crews. Even so, I think the Brits have screened all their pilots by this point. Unless it's an Anglo ringer...

[pgkdan]

Remember the last time there was supposed to be a lot of chatter and the warnings for muslims to vacate certain cities were being posted on websites? There was a lot of references then to "remote control" and some were speculating that the term may be a code for a "go" signal. Maybe it really just means "remote controlled". Seems like a tall order to remotely control a passenger air craft into the White House...but who knows?

[Coop]

Yes, some of the 9/11 terrorists were flight trained. The normal pilots would not have flown into buildings, even at gunpoint.

[nwctwx]

Exactly, the chances of them pulling off another 9/11 "Passenger jets as Missiles" attack are much less then they were the first go around. AQ has proven to be quite meticulous with their planning and they tend to choose the path of least resistance. If they are attempting to pull off an attack they would likely choose a method that was nearly assured to accomplish their goal. Crashing a passenger jet into a target is a difficult task in and of itself, doing it with people who know they are going to die and f-16's on your tail sounds nearly impossible.

[Eastbound]

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

None in the U.S.? Probably not. We have 'homeland' security to prevent that. Right?