CF-18s escort flight into Vancouver

Breaking news,

At least two fighter jets have escorted a Cathay Pacific Airways flight into Vancouver International Airport due to a potential security threat.

CF18 Hornet fighter jets acting under the North American Aerospace Defence Command flew alongside the plane from Hong Kong until it landed.

The fighter jets have the ability to respond to security threats up to and including lethal force.

“As a precaution, NORAD fighters escorted the aircraft until it landed safely in Vancouver,” said NORAD's Major Holly Apostoliuk.

Maj. Apostoliuk said the jets responded quickly from their base in Comox, B.C., once information on a potential threat was received.

They did not land with flight CX839, and have since returned to their base.

The Cathay Pacific plane is now sitting on the tarmac with passengers still on board.

The incident is being investigated by the RCMP.

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Hopefully nothing serious.

Fighter jets escort plane to Vancouver amid threat
15/05/2010 8:46:57 PM
CTV.ca News Staff
National Defence scrambled two CF-18 fighter jets from CFB Comox after a bomb threat was made aboard a Cathay Pacific flight enroute to a Vancouver airport Saturday afternoon.



Cathay Pacific flight number 839 was enroute when the pilot issued an alert. The Department of National Defence immediately sent its fight jets into action from Comox, B.C., say sources. A search and rescue aircraft plus a military helicopter also responded to the call in case the incident developed.


The jets escorted the plane into Vancouver International Airport along its scheduled flight path at around 1:40 p.m. local time. The jets have since returned to CFB Comox.
A spokesperson for Defence Minister Peter MacKay's office confirmed the threat.
"The CF-18 escorted the aircraft to Vancouver and it landed without incident," the spokesperson said.
The order to send the jets was made from the Canadian Norad regional headquarters in Winnipeg.
Major Holly Apostoliuk, a public affairs spokesperson for the DND, would not say how long it took the fighter jets to reach the aircraft.
"At any point we can have the aircraft on the ground or airborne to respond to any threats that may occur," she told CTV News Channel Saturday evening.
There are unconfirmed reports the plane is sitting on the tarmac with passengers still on board. The plane has been towed to a remote part of the airport, away from the terminal.
A staircase was seen being brought up to the plane's open doorway. Fire crews could be seen standing by.
One man who is waiting for his friends in the airport's arrivals area, told The Canadian Press that he was told by airport officials that it would be a long wait until the passengers were allowed off the plane.
"They are saying that they are checking every bag," said Kevin Yip.
Officials are expected to update the media at a news conference shortly.
The investigation is being handled by the RCMP in Vancouver.
With files from CTV's Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife and The Canadian Press.

Nothing found after sniffer dogs went through stuff. No-one found anything.

This story should not have made the news, since this kind of publicity only encourages copycats.

I agree and it has been reported as a hoax.

Should it have been covered up? If it had been then the tinfoil hats would be posting here instead of you. Oh, nevermind.

Thank goodness the CF-18's were there! A threatened mid-air downing of a plane by air force jets would make any suicidal passenger think twice about detonating a bomb. This is purple-heart material.

But how would you stop the passengers from blabbing? And then it would undoubtedly get blown out of proportion.

Nah, just a wingnut out there costing us $tens of thousands.

Much ado about SFA-typical over reaction from
dumb-as-a-post security assholes.

Isn't it better to be safe than sorry?

Our men and women of the armed farces have saved us again. No wonder the people of Afghanistan love them so much.

Of course you are dead right and would be 99.9% of the time, but if you ignored it and 500 lives were lost how would you ever live with it................not to mention the $millions in litigation?

The part that makes so very little sense is how are two CF-18's going to stop some idiot from detonating his bomb? Radar and ELT can do exactly the same thing they can: report the location where the airliner went down.

At least a couple of zoomies got to log some cockpit time.

Funny- that was the exact same question I was going to ask but you had the guts to ask it.

At least it proved that their security measures worked, hoax or real.

I hope this is not a dry run for something more worse.

My point exactly-whoever decided to send those planes up-and I'm sure it was part of a heavily planned scenario-has NFC whatsoever.

That's why I put security in italics in my earlier post-these planners are hopeless/helpless/stupid almost beyond belief.

Dollars to donuts the cry for unmanned drones comes up in th house. I wonder which private company will sell, maintain and hire flunkies to manage the unmanned air security? It is possible to x-ray from aircraft to aircraft and inspect for anomalies mid air.