Fighter Escort?

[Jonny671]

So, a BA Jet was given a fighter escort this morning into Heathrow.. Whats the reason for these escorts?

[Jonny671]

ramz said:

The flight was actually an AA flight from DFW into Heathrow that had a lady passenger trying to break into the flight deck. She was brought under control by the crew but I guess the captain will probably have requested a priority approach which would have resulted in standard (slightly OTT) procedures kickin in.

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?i...

ps: hello all!

Ah thankyou.

But why do they get sent up there?

p.s; Hello!

[Jonny671]

Streetrod said:

I have always wondered about this, who would ever authorise the shooting down of an airliner even it was heading for the centre of a city? Who has the final say?

Probably like a nuke.. Gordo?

[Jonny671]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I think he means, it doesn't matter who tells him to.. The Pilots finger is on the trigger.

[Jonny671]

Would you get killed by the MI-5 people if you accidently hit the wrong target whilst firing off your missle?

[Jonny671]

TEKNOPUG said:

Jonny671 said:

Would you get killed by the MI-5 people if you accidently hit the wrong target whilst firing off your missle?

Depends who you hit!

Hmm..

[Jonny671]

ramz said:

TEKNOPUG said:

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Who actually presses the button? MoD/Winky whoever can authorise whatever they like, still down to the pilot to actually carry out the command, or not

Edited by TEKNOPUG on Wednesday 3rd March 16:45

...and suffer the consequences.

I once had a chat with a retired Tornado pilot, who told me that post-9/11 they regularly practiced civilian airliner intercepts with the intent of shooting them down should the need arise. If someone deemed that a hijacked airline was enough of a threat to sacrifice all the lives on board then I'm sure that would mean having spared the lives of countless more on the ground.

He also told me he dreaded to know what it would feel to send a plane full of innocent civilians to their death, but how many more could potentially be saved in a situation like that?

What would the consequences be?

[Jonny671]

XB70 said:

Depending on where it hit, I would imagine that a few missiles and maybe some cannon fire would be needed???

A 777/747 is a very very big aircraft with multiple redundant systems (controls, fuel etc etc) and missile warheads are not that big. AFAIK, they use a proximity warhead to send shrapnel into what is often a densely packed target - a fighter - with an excellent chance of damaging something critical. For an airliner, aside from the sheer size, there is a lot of 'space' inside it. In various accidents they have flown with no tails, no roofs, no front cargo hatches, all engines out etc so would probably take a bit to knock it out of the sky.

Can you decide where a missile will hit on a target such as a plane? Or does it just hit the centre and hope for the best?