Posted on 01/02/2004 9:44:19 AM PST by 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.
No, I wasn't talking about them .. wasn't there a recent report of them actually being pilots working for the BA .. or others airlines ?
My bet is yes and it will be a locked on target..any deviation from it's flight path and they'll launch. If this is as serious as it seems, they're not going to give any of these flights btwn Heathrow and Dulles any room to spare. I pray this flight lands safely.
Never underestimate these bastards.
Who would have thought they could have brought down the Twin Towers using commerical jets.
Same here .. I haven't had a lot of time to pay attention to the News
Hey Dog .. that last tape from the #2 guy .. didn't he mention something about an attack between now and Feb?
Nelson DeMille wrote "Lion's Game" pre-9/11 about a terrorist who poisoned everyone on a plane, then used the plane's autopilot to land it.
One wonders if a plane's computer software could be compromised and what checks there are that the software is working ok. (Especially with all the overseas out-sourcing going on these days.) Perhaps it's the type of plane and/or avionics that's the point of interest.
/sarcasm
:-(
Here is a stupid question .. God forbid .. but what if an f-16 had to take out a plane over a residential or business district? .. How many buildings on the ground would be destroyed? .. these people are on a suicide mission any way we look at it ..
Good God. I understand the necessity, but I would not want to be a passenger on a BA flight to the US right now.
Me either...I was serious about praying that the flight lands safely.
Makes no sense. Why in the world would a terrorist risk getting caught trying to sneak a suitcase nuke through airline security just to blow it up in the sky where it would do less damage? Why not drive over to important location X and simply detonate the device?
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