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Sunwing flight to Cuba forced back to Toronto after disruption
A Sunwing Airlines flight headed to Cuba was forced to turn back to Toronto’s Pearson airport Wednesday after an apparent disruption by two passengers. A NORAD spokesperson confirmed to CTV News that two Canadian fighter jets escorted the passenger aircraft back to Toronto’s Pearson International Airport. Earlier reports suggest the plane was near Florida when it had to turn around. Police said two female suspects were arrested. (www.ctvnews.ca) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
A little time in a Cuban jail and a no fly classification would have been more appropriate. If the aircraft was over northern Florida it had only an hour and a bit to land in Cuba rather than turn around even though convention says the flight remains under Canadian control.
I was thinking the same thing. We need to get a little better at assessing risk and analyzing threats. This response, particularly the fighter escort, seems like an absurd response to 2 drunk girls who don't give a hoot about anyone else. Continuing the flight and turning them over to Cuban authorities would have been a better response.
When it was just two drunks yelling at each other and the cabin crew decided the threat against the aircraft was "non-credible because of their condition", why was it necessary to scramble two fighters? If it's a hijacking, or a suspected one, or a credible bomb threat, then scramble them, but for something like this, someone in the NORAD food chain should have the discretion to decide it's unnecessary. Escorting an airliner is only necessary if it can be flown off course or crashed. They're not going to shoot it down because a couple of drunks are duking it out in the aisle. If they could even see the escorting fighters, do you think they were intimidated or cared or that anyone else aboard the jet felt safer?
And if the aircraft really was so potentially dangerous that it had to be escorted, why did it fly all the way from Florida to Toronto to land? Given their range, there's no way the CF-18s flew all the way from CFB Bagotville to the southern U.S. and probably only met it near Toronto. If even Uncle Sam didn't feel a need to escort it, there was no need for the Harper Regime to do it.
Instead of hitting the panic button every time, there should be a calm, measured, and rational response that can be escalated if necessary. In this case, it was obvious from the start that the aircraft was neither in danger itself nor did it pose any danger and the fighter escort was a complete waste of time, effort, and money. What if they'd been needed for something more serious elsewhere?
And if the aircraft really was so potentially dangerous that it had to be escorted, why did it fly all the way from Florida to Toronto to land? Given their range, there's no way the CF-18s flew all the way from CFB Bagotville to the southern U.S. and probably only met it near Toronto. If even Uncle Sam didn't feel a need to escort it, there was no need for the Harper Regime to do it.
Instead of hitting the panic button every time, there should be a calm, measured, and rational response that can be escalated if necessary. In this case, it was obvious from the start that the aircraft was neither in danger itself nor did it pose any danger and the fighter escort was a complete waste of time, effort, and money. What if they'd been needed for something more serious elsewhere?
Flight hours are usually heavily limited by budget. There however would be no limit on hours for scrambling to deal with a list of sensitive issues. Probably figured it would be nice to get into the air without having to account for it to the clerks.
Maybe NORAD figured they could need the exercise?
its ironic , if this tiff was bad enough to send the plane back to Toronto but not bad enough to land at the nearest airport , then was it really worth wasting all this fuel and passengers time ? what next , plane get sent back , passenger complained about the peanuts ? maybe a little more people skills on the part of the crew and less panic would have defused this situation and saved a whole lot of money and time .