British Airways cancels Saudi Flight as well [Drudge Siren]

Drudge Report ^ | Jan 2, 2004 | Drudge

[The Raven]

British Airways cancels Saturday's flight from London to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for security reasons

[knak]

more info in reuters article

BA cancels Riyadh flight

[Solson]

Okay..theory time...

The bad guys tried to hop a flight from the UK to the US. Didn't work.

they know they're being watched so they try to hop a flight back to safer territory only to have that cancelled.

The good guys have a bead on the bad guys and are trying to make em stay in one place.

Namely...the pilots.

[over3Owithabrain]

Yeah, something is definitely up - I'm sure the people in-the-know are working overtime and sweating bullets right now.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

BA out of London would be filled with fuel and, no doubt, one or more suspects.

It's possible the departing flights from LAX (Air France) and Dulles (BA) are the real concerns.

As on 9/11.

[rintense]

I think I read somewhere on FR that authorities are concerned with two AQ cells in particular: one in Central America, and one either in Miami or the UK (I can't remember).

[r9etb]

Namely...the pilots.

I don't think so -- it'd be easy to check up on all of the pilots and quietly track/remove them.

As I theorized above, I think it's guys in the ground crew setting something up for a passenger to use.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

It seems the departing flights out of D.C., L.A. and London pose the greatest risk, filled fuel tank-wise.

LAX (Air France), Dulles (BA) and now Heathrow (BA) = all departures.

Incoming flights could have suspects entering airport, changing I.D.s, turning around and boarding departing flights out of U.S./London. Thus the round-trip cancellations.

[Solson]

Either way...it's internal to BA I think. Whether ground crew, pilots or attendants, they've got wind of something.

Another thought, if the problem is with the "planes not the passengers" which was stated in previous posts, is it possible these specific flights are being targeted from the ground?

[af_vet_1981]

It depends on how they infiltrate the network and what products they succeed to bringing on board. Thank G-d we have good people working this.

[b4its2late]

Looks like these bastards (Al-queda) are up to something...

[af_vet_1981]

succeed to succeed in

[T.Smith]

"Thus the round-trip cancellations."

My understanding is that the round trip was cancelled because, without the plane being allowed to come to the states, there's no plane available to make the trip back to Europe.

[VRWC_minion]

No one gets in or out.

[r9etb]

is it possible these specific flights are being targeted from the ground?

Seems unlikely -- why would it be better to shoot down this flight, as opposed to that one?

[The Raven]

But why would they only have one plane this time?

Last time there were four

[blam]

"Another thought, if the problem is with the "planes not the passengers" which was stated in previous posts, is it possible these specific flights are being targeted from the ground?"

I wonder if they have found some altimeter triggered devices on any of these cancelled flights? (I'm suprised this hasn't already been used, like the Lockerbie bombing)

[Principled]

The good guys have a bead on the bad guys and are trying to make em stay in one place.

What a pleasant thought!

There should be some FReepers out there that know how to use the web to search for pilot names, eh?

[Lessismore]

The bomb was smuggled aboard the Lockerbie plane at Frankfurt, not Heathrow.

Most likely the common thread is not at Heathrow, but rather a concern about the airport(s) that the planes came from or the passenger list on the inbound flights.

[NTegraT]

Does anyone know the flight number of the plane which contained the dead man in the wheel well and where the plane had been before it left Britain (I think that's where it came from)?

[Solson]

Right now, they're looking for ANYTHING to make an impact. One plane would again send jitters. Thus the importance of cancelling flights even if something doesn't smell right. We cannot let this happen again.