Canadian Fighters Escort Plane
[Guest post by DRJ]
The AP/Washington Post report Canadian fighter jets escorted a Cathay Pacific jet into Vancouver because of a bomb threat:
“Canadian fighter jets escorted a Cathay Pacific airliner incoming from Hong Kong to a safe landing in Vancouver International Airport on Saturday due to a potential unspecified security threat, a North American Aerospace Defense Command spokesperson said.
The Canadian Press news agency cited Canadian Defense department officials as saying there was a bomb threat aboard the plane, which originated in Hong Kong, but they could not provide details.”
Fox News and the CBC filed similar reports, but the CBC version adds this:
“The fighter jets are authorized to respond to security threats with measures including lethal force.”
That’s an interesting difference.
— DRJ
I’m having a difficult time keeping from making a joke about Canadian fighter jets …
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/15/2010 @ 6:04 pmWho knew the cannucks had nads?
PatriotRider (8d9a6f) — 5/15/2010 @ 7:09 pmNads? Oh, I dunno. How about this?
FWIW, getting authorization to use lethal force while sitting on the wing (meaning flying formation w/said jet and looking for signs of suspicious activity on the flight deck) of a suspect commercial aircraft will probably be problematic. It’ll have to be pointed at the Capitol, in a 30-degree dive, passing through 400+ knots indicated and below about 5000’AGL before anyone will say, “Engage.”
We always laughed at that scenario…one political potato too hot for most pols to handle. An old badger like Rumsfeld would agitate for it but I doubt the current crowd would have the stomach for anything but a threat to The One in the White House…
attila_of_argghhh (a18a12) — 5/15/2010 @ 7:21 pmCanadian air force used to (probably still does) fly F18 Hornets. Which, if I recall correctly, are called CF-118’s in Canadian service.
Have Blue (854a6e) — 5/15/2010 @ 7:38 pm