Sunday, 1 December 2019

Another RAF Scramble

At about half past four this morning many people across London and southern England were woken by what sounded like a loud explosion. This was actually a sonic boom caused by high speed aircraft breaking the sound barrier. The aircraft were a pair of Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter interceptors that had just been hastily deployed from RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire. They accelerated to supersonic speeds, something RAF planes are only allowed to do during serious operations and never during an exercise. The deployment was done as a precaution because a commercial aircraft had become unresponsive. This is a standard procedure, understandable since 9/11. The RAF located the plane and reconnected it to air traffic control. An RAF press officer said: "Typhoon aircraft from RAF Coningsby were scrambled this morning as part of the UK's Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) procedures after an aircraft lost communications in UK airspace. The aircraft was intercepted and its communications were subsequently re-established." The Metropolitan Police Tweeted: "The loud bang heard throughout north London and surrounding areas was the result of a sonic boom from RAF planes. There is no cause for concern." Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-50618956.

The identity of the muted commercial aircraft has not been published. It was intercepted by the RAF over southeast England. It was en route to the USA and developed radio problems while flying over Germany. The pilot commented: "It took us about ten minutes to realize that the radio wasn't working and then about ten minutes to resolve that problem... I looked left and about had a heart attack when I saw (the RAF fighters) so close, strobes on and with bluish glow strips along the side of his fuselage." I've watched a few in-cockpit videos of planes in flight, for example see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWqwzCTIW3Q, and that story lacks the feel of authenticity. Did they not have a spare radio or other contingencies to cope with a broken radio? Why did it take ten minutes to work out the radio was broken when pilots and air traffic control communicate all the time, especially over southern England, which is the world's busiest airspace? As with the other cases in the background links below, I suspect that the "lost plane" is a cover story. So what really happened? It could have been activity by the Russians or other hostile powers that the government wants to keep quiet. Alternatively it might have been invaders who were a little more exotic. I'm interested to find out if there were any UFO sightings in the area. Interceptions like these are becoming more common. Is this because we are receiving more attention from outsiders, however you define that word?

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