BA Bomb threats

[pax britanica]

Seems BA had a series of Bomb threats aimed at Island destinations, Bermuda , Turks Island and BVI (not sure BA go there)

Not terribly well handled at Bermuda and exposes the problems of widebody aircraft operating to small islands when things go pear shaped.

Full audio recording on Live Atc.com but the crew and the Tower controller left in the lurch by inability of airport to coordinate emergency services and evacuate plane. PAx still on board 30 minutes or more after threat reported to crew by cancelling take off clearance . 20 minutes to get steps to aircraft etc etc
Apologies if this is elsewhere on PP

[intortola]

Also Anguilla yesterday. It is not directed at BA. It is about 4 men arrested in the Turks and Caicos for having ammunition, someone is demanding their release or threatening bombs in the British Overseas Territories. Yesterday they also threatened all schools in the Turks.

[wiggy]

First got news of this earlier via a French language newsfeed...the headline writer had presumably been issued with a shoe horn

Encore un incident sur un avion Boeing : une bombe dans l’appareil

[pax britanica]

P icked it up from the Bermuda newspap[er which having lived there I read from time to time.

and yes it seems BA is a bit of a coincidence except that its British and Turks and Caicos was kind of taken back under the colonial wing due t corruption and crime.

What concerned me was the time taken to get people off the plane with the Captain eventually saying if you cannot get the steps here soon we will evacuate by slides

[TheGorrilla]

Tough position to be in. Was it a credible threat? Compare that against the chances of injuring passengers during evacuation.

[ETOPS]

Here's the ATC tape - have to say my ex-colleagues did well to keep calm given the long delays in getting info about evacuating the pax. I think the eventual Mayday call was driven by advice fron BA security in LHR to push BDA authorities to action..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w47JD32ByXk

[Claudio Mnso]

Seems like another ground handling issue as opposed to the airport/airline’s fault

[albatross]

Words fail me.

[Jet Jockey A4]

Words fail me.

Ditto.

[Tango and Cash]

Tough position to be in. Was it a credible threat? Compare that against the chances of injuring passengers during evacuation.

Whether the captain was seriously considering evacuation by slides, hopefully the threat to do so got the ground equipment moving just a little faster.

[albatross]

The conversation in the cockpit during the long silences from the tower must have been “interesting”.
The BA crew kept their cool as did the controller. The tower must have been an interesting place to be a “fly on the wall” too.

[ATC Watcher]

Extraordinary situation , extraordinary measures. Evacuation of the terminal did not help , most probably hindering communications. and coordination . One thing to remember : in this situation ATC is just a communication relay, the decisions and actions are not taken in the tower.
: A lesson on this perhaps : bomb threats handling are fairly standard by now unfortunately , and indeed Fire trucks are to stay away from the aircraft . But placing them , or least one truck in view of the crew is perhaps advisable to confirm to the crew that they are in place in case they are needed.
And we are going back to this very old discussion as to whether Fire services and aircraft crew should have a common frequency to communicate in emergency situations. (Fiercely opposed by most airport authorities until now ) .

[Boeingdriver999]

I have pondered this problem quite a bit with the benefit of time and no pressure. These situations are often handled poorly with the passengers left at risk to any potential explosion and the crew left in a grey area of confusion. From the left hand seat it would appear that the diffusion of responsibility outside of the cockpit paralyses any decent decision making/decisive action. In the simplest sense; get the passengers & crew away from the hull and luggage to minimise risk. Worry about apprehending a culprit amongst the pax afterwards.

With the above in mind; once we come to a stop at the designated spot I would set a stopwatch and inform the tower/ATC/police chief that I will be evacuating in a calm fashion (not neccessary to stampede off the aircraft, can use the slides with able-bodied pax/crew at the bottom to assist) after 15 minutes. I'd keep them appraised of the time and if steps hadn't arrived at the end of the 15 minutes then open a slide or two and disembark that way. 15 minutes is plenty of time to arrange a set of steps and enough ground personnel to safely herd the passengers on the ramp. 15 minutes is also plenty of time for whoever thinks they are in charge to make a sensible and firm decision.

And if a local plod got their knickers twisted because of that; I'm more than happy to face the consequences AFTER the passengers have been removed from the threat.

[blind pew]

It isn’t as simple as there are often life changing injuries from evacuations.
‘We had a specific bomb threat in the 70s when the IRA were placing bombs on BEA aircraft serving Ulster. They came through to us after the security services deemed that they were genuine. Depressurised ..returned to Heathrow and sent to a remote parking area near the sewage works. Our slides were far more dangerous than the inflatable slides of today and required two able bodied members to climb down and hold the bottom corners. Not the height of today’s slides but we had killed a steward falling off the air stairs.
It took more than 30 mins to find a volunteer to position stairs to the aircraft.
Sadly management lied to us and I never saw one on a Belfast.
My last airline we had open access to the security, regular briefings if we requested and on my command course had a day being briefed by all the relevant airport authorities including the commandos.
When you take into account some of the mess ups that have taken place recently such as the Manchester bombing along with several other “terrorist” or “nutters” attacks you are doomed if you do and doomed if you don’t.
Never found out whether it was a genuine threat.

[pax britanica]

Altho I have an interest in Bermuda side of things this was mostly about the challenges a very small airport faces when confronted by an issue like this.. Do they have anti terror troops/police do they have explosive experts , do they have busses , do they ahve a plan for evacuating a plane and what to do with passengers?

In Bermuda the remote ramp is close to the Tower but not the terminal and the runway is in between the two. The crew , understandably didnt want to stop and remain on the runway as originally suggested and expected to return to the terminal but were left in an isolated area at night which was probably quite frightening for the passengers (and crew) . It got pretty negative press comment in Bermuda but the overall view was that they did need to learn lessons, .

[BoeingDriver99]

Agreed. As PiC you have to balance the two threats and assess each risk. If the threat of a bomb requires a return to land immediately it’s serious. My QRH for a definite bomb on board leads directly to an evacuation.

With a credible threat there are two possibilities with four outcomes:

Bomb on board & no evac = possible mass loss of life/major casualties
Bomb on board & evac = possible injury to one or two due to evac

No bomb & evac = same as directly above
No bomb & no evac = no loss of life/injuries

Sitting there with a credible threat and just waiting to see what happens seems to me like sticking one’s head in the sand & crossing one’s fingers.

Maybe there should be an internationally accepted procedure for these scenarios?

[LOWI]

Appreciate you Victor over at VASaviation.

Having listened to this mess, I really feel for the Nigels! You're stuck between a rock and a hard place.

BA were relying on the airport to provide them with the steps for a rapid disembark. But the airport failed them (ATC was just the messenger).

[Meikleour]

In early 1972 I was positioning crew on a BEA Trident from Malta to Heathrow. Early on in the cruise the crew received a specific bomb threat and the aircraft diverted to Fiumicino. Being an "able bodied" sole I was co-opted into being the first to shin down the canvas slide for the evacuation. Half way down I clearly remembered the safety school advice to "position your body between the fuselage and the slide to prevent damaged knuckles" - alas too late! The canvas slide had rope handholds to enable it to be tensioned at 45 degrees. The evacuation went fairly smoothly until a very large gentleman carrying a ten year old child insisted on coming down the slide. The combined weight was too much for me and my colleague and he landed rather heavily with the child in his lap. Once everyone was safely off the aircraft the process of "wrangling cats" on the runway was pure mayhem with few passengers willing to run away from the aircraft!

Fortunately for the rest of my career I never had to complete an actual passenger evacuation although came close a couple of times.

[Asturias56]

In all the years of "bomb threats" how many have actually found a bomb? I'm sure there have been some but I can't remember any.

And of course, there are the ones where there were bombs but no warning - Prigozhin 's unfortunate end comes to mind

[blind pew]

You won’t ever find out..the BEA report that went into Manchester is still secret..took three searches to find the device under a seat cushion. My one whether true or not was kept secret and when I asked our union rep 40 years on he didn’t know of mine but a mate had one in a checked suitcase in the hold. ELAl one in Zurich although no warning blew the roof off the bomb investigation building, a similar one ex Heathrow was discovered .,pregnant girlfriend of bomber given his suitcase with bomb; shoe bomber. It often depends on what the security services deem as a threat or not and as history shows they can get it wrong.
As a well informed captain and crew you make a decision on all the factors you know, nothing set in stone and is why they get paid a decent salary.

[Flyhighfirst]

I have pondered this problem quite a bit with the benefit of time and no pressure. These situations are often handled poorly with the passengers left at risk to any potential explosion and the crew left in a grey area of confusion. From the left hand seat it would appear that the diffusion of responsibility outside of the cockpit paralyses any decent decision making/decisive action. In the simplest sense; get the passengers & crew away from the hull and luggage to minimise risk. Worry about apprehending a culprit amongst the pax afterwards.

With the above in mind; once we come to a stop at the designated spot I would set a stopwatch and inform the tower/ATC/police chief that I will be evacuating in a calm fashion (not neccessary to stampede off the aircraft, can use the slides with able-bodied pax/crew at the bottom to assist) after 15 minutes. I'd keep them appraised of the time and if steps hadn't arrived at the end of the 15 minutes then open a slide or two and disembark that way. 15 minutes is plenty of time to arrange a set of steps and enough ground personnel to safely herd the passengers on the ramp. 15 minutes is also plenty of time for whoever thinks they are in charge to make a sensible and firm decision.

And if a local plod got their knickers twisted because of that; I'm more than happy to face the consequences AFTER the passengers have been removed from the threat.

The problem with that is you are going to have injuries when using the slides. Some can be life changing. Difficult decision to make.

This issue was made worse, and most likely unmanageable in a small island airport by the terminal having to be evacuated as well due to its own bomb threat.

[Flyhighfirst]

Appreciate you Victor over at VASaviation.

Having listened to this mess, I really feel for the Nigels! You're stuck between a rock and a hard place.

BA were relying on the airport to provide them with the steps for a rapid disembark. But the airport failed them (ATC was just the messenger).

I think it’s a bit harsh to say the airport failed them. They were also coping with an evacuation of the terminal building. Which would have had a much larger number of people to deal with that one plane.

[ETOPS]

Except safety for those in the terminal is just a few paces to the outside world whereas those onboard are effectively trapped.

[Asturias56]

"a similar one ex Heathrow was discovered .,pregnant girlfriend of bomber given his suitcase with bomb; shoe bomber."

Thanks - those two I remember

[albatross]

Except safety for those in the terminal is just a few paces to the outside world whereas those onboard are effectively trapped.

Well said.
One would like to believe there is a relatively short checklist of immediate actions to be taken.
Get the aircraft off the runway to an apron ( previously designated )
Get stairs, fire and police /security moving immediately.
Get the passengers and crew off the airplane.

While someone was in control overall. One Airside person should have been in charge of getting the pax off the aircraft.
Another person should have been in charge of evacuating the terminal.

The fact they held the aircraft in position on the runway for so long shows perhaps that there was no plan or that it was locked securely in someones safe ( for “security reasons” ) and not properly distributed.

The length of time to get stairs to the aircraft was “excessive” to say the least.

[chips101]

The problem is the desired effect was successful. How can we stop this? Yes better planning but can we stop everything?

[albatross]

Some say that “Most Bomb Threats are hoaxes”.
A statistical comfort perhaps.
However as a friend once said about the chance of an engine failing “statistics are comforting until you become the 1/1,000,000 one.”
If the controlling authority says they have a “Credible Bomb Threat” you have to react as the if the treat is real.

[M.Mouse]

When I was flying I know that my company received many threats all the time. The threats were assessed and decisions would be made whether they were credible or not. It is clear that the majority of threats are made to cause maximum disruption and cost and/or publicity.

I have no inside knowledge but in the Bermuda case simultaneous threats to the airport and an aircraft do not sound like credible threats. A bomb exploding on an aircraft or in the building would have been ample to generate whatever chaos the perpetrators wished to generate. The impression is that two bomb threats were made by e-mail and the authorities sound like they reacted to both immediately with possibly no skilled analysis regarding their credibility.

Bermuda is a small airport. They do not have hundreds of staff, steps, drivers, ambulances, etc. The controller was doing her best and was extremely calm and professional given that she was really only the messenger with circumstances well beyond her immediate control.

The flight crew were hostage to the circumstances they were confronted with and must have been incredibly frustrated at the lack of immediate help.

During the Northern Ireland troubles I know that when bombs had been planted the perpetrators had a code which they used which the authorities then knew that the call and threat was real and they needed to act upon it. Of course there were other occasions when no warning was given before a terrorist bomb exploded.

[Max Angle]

They do not have hundreds of staff, steps, drivers, ambulances,
Small it might be but they are handling large commercial jets so its not a "mom and pop" operation, all that was needed was one set of steps and someone to drive them, not too much to ask given the circumstances I would suggest.

[pax britanica]

Bermuda- L F Wade international airport is not that small on island standards> In fact for an island with a population of about 58,000 is is quite big and takes up a significant proportion of the islands land area. It is a WW2 US base , Kindley Field (its ICAO ID is TXKF) was home to a squadron of P3s plus some exotic unmarked c130s in the Cold war days and was and still is a staging post for many shorter range military trans Atlantic's and has a 10,000 ft runway . It handles a great many biz jets being an 'offshore financial centre or tax haven ) . When I lived there it had one Dc10 a day to/from Kennedy -American Airlines and 2 Delta 1011 departures plus half a dozen 727s plus BA who swapped between tristars and 747s so its used to handling large aircraft. The US routes and now all handled by 73s and 320s and BA is pretty much the only widebody. it gets quite a few diversions on S America to Caribbean to US North east/Europe to Caribbean-Cenral America flights because it is along way from anywhere. So they do have emergencies but not many where this is wholesale threat to life on the plan as was the case here.where it was not a shut down engine or unruly /medic pax but a direct threat to the aircraft.

The US Navy are long gone so the military side of the field north of the runway is just bizjets and some vacant aprons where they eventually sent the BA jet to, most of these are along way from the terminal walking not impossible on a balmy spring evening but when it rains it comes at you in horizontal gusts and you are soaked in seconds which would have put even more pressure on the crew about evac or stay put. . So it is still quite a serious small airport being a very very isolated place it has no effective diversion airfield as except for the BA its basically go home and start again in you are coming from US or Canada. It has very modern terminal only around 7-8 years old so its far from the tiny island 2 ATRS a day that you can get further south and Bermuda is a fairly wealthy place -third highest GDP in the world so its not unreasonable to say they should probably have done rather better. When you boil it down anything like this has to be a challenge when a widebody aircraft is involved in an incident where there just aren't the people to handle things like simultaneous bomb threats ,do they really have a serious bomb squad, anti terror police, hotel accom for 200 odd people , transport etc so i just wonder how major airlines who fly to often even smaller destinations have plans in place for what to do in a situation like this which ended up with a 24 hour delay too.Not an easy situation for the crew at all.

[nimrodel]

Any indication whether or not Flight Crew advised the pax. I'm assuming not, otherwise there would have been pandemonium

[pax britanica]

Not reported what the crew did but if I were on that plane I would have some concerns,
Rejected take off , albeit fairly low speed
Taxi to dark corner of airport and just sit there
Blue lights appear -crew couldn't see them but perhaps pax could
No doubt cabin crew scurrying around a fair bit-understandably so,

I would think the crew had to say something and they certainly couldnt say we have just had a bomb threat

Itwas delayed 24 hours , was that due to needing a thorough search of plane, or SOP because even if they were hanging around for 3-4 hours they were probably ok hours wise

[albatross]

Not reported what the crew did but if I were on that plane I would have some concerns,
Rejected take off , albeit fairly low speed
Taxi to dark corner of airport and just sit there
Blue lights appear -crew couldn't see them but perhaps pax could
No doubt cabin crew scurrying around a fair bit-understandably so,

I would think the crew had to say something and they certainly couldnt say we have just had a bomb threat

Itwas delayed 24 hours , was that due to needing a thorough search of plane, or SOP because even if they were hanging around for 3-4 hours they were probably ok hours wise

Being as the terminal was evacuated also getting things back to normal there would have delayed things quite a bit.
Passengers would have to be checked back in, gone back through security before being re-boarded, the bags would have to be ID’d, ( pax may have had to identify their bags ) then checked, screened again, reloaded. ect. ect. ect.