3 ms·

Belarus dispatches MiG-29 fighter jet to corral RyanAir flight bound for Lithuania - - - - forcibly diverted to Minsk . . .

iso1210 5y ago
The followup should be civilian aircraft avoid flying in Belarussian airspace
bombcar 5y ago
Note to self: when wanted by a country don’t overfly said country or it’s allies.
- laurent92 5y ago
  Obviously. I’ve also heard that, when you have been rejected for a US visa, you cannot fly from Canada to Latin America, because you cannot fly over the US. Was the plane over Belarus, though?
  - tyingq 5y ago
    "Was the plane over Belarus, though?" Yes: https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/fr4978#27cce9a2 https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/fr4978#27cce9a2
  - ryanlol 5y ago
    This is not correct. But if you are facing federal charges you probably do not want to do that.
  - bombcar 5y ago
    If it was sending Migs into neighboring airspace that’d be even more of an international incident. To be precise that’s if you’re rejected for a visa - just to transit you don’t need one so it’s best not to apply.
mLuby 5y ago
Would the fighter have shot down the airliner if it hadn't complied? Seems like enforcement options are quite limited for such fast-moving, fragile vehicles.
- Spooky23 5y ago
  As the pilot of the airliner full of passengers, would you choose to find out?
  - markvdb 5y ago
    The pilot must have had a range of options. Some of them might have risked the shooting of the plane. Others might have stalled, embarassed and/or documented this attack by Belarusian forces. I had a formative experience regarding the game of chicken years ago. It might look very much off topic at first sight, but please read on and decide for yourself. When I was in secondary school, bored teenagers repeatedly threatened local school bombings, causing the repeated evacuation of several schools. Never the one I went to school at. I later learned why from my father, a teacher at the school. The school did receive bomb threats just like the others. The school head did warn the police. After a short discussion with them, he firmly and politely informed them that our school would not be evacuated, and that was that. He was - and is, at 87- a quiet and soft spoken man, a well respected member of society, but definitely not afraid of a game of chicken.
    - Spooky23 5y ago
      I think your example is very apropos, but people won't just go voluntarily "die on a hill" without support. My guess would be that the gentleman running the school in your example was widely respected and had a solid relationship with his appointing authority (school board, upstream executive, etc) -- they had his back. Does Ryanair offer that type of confidence to pilots as commanders of their aircraft?
- GekkePrutser 5y ago
  KAL007 proves it's not a good option to play chicken with military jets.
tomp 5y ago
I wonder how they even knew who was no board... Are airlines forced to share the passenger list with every country they fly over? That's news to me, and seems like an unacceptable intrusion of privacy...
- pavlov 5y ago
  The journalist was being followed by Belarussian KGB agents in Athens, and they boarded the flight with him. They didn't need passenger information from the airline. (They kept the name KGB in Belarus.)
  - isbvhodnvemrwvn 5y ago
    Name and methods.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

iso1210 5y ago

The followup should be civilian aircraft avoid flying in Belarussian airspace

bombcar 5y ago

Note to self: when wanted by a country don’t overfly said country or it’s allies.

laurent92 5y ago
Obviously. I’ve also heard that, when you have been rejected for a US visa, you cannot fly from Canada to Latin America, because you cannot fly over the US. Was the plane over Belarus, though?
- tyingq 5y ago
  "Was the plane over Belarus, though?" Yes: https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/fr4978#27cce9a2 https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/fr4978#27cce9a2
- ryanlol 5y ago
  This is not correct. But if you are facing federal charges you probably do not want to do that.
- bombcar 5y ago
  If it was sending Migs into neighboring airspace that’d be even more of an international incident. To be precise that’s if you’re rejected for a visa - just to transit you don’t need one so it’s best not to apply.

mLuby 5y ago

Would the fighter have shot down the airliner if it hadn't complied? Seems like enforcement options are quite limited for such fast-moving, fragile vehicles.

Spooky23 5y ago
As the pilot of the airliner full of passengers, would you choose to find out?
- markvdb 5y ago
  The pilot must have had a range of options. Some of them might have risked the shooting of the plane. Others might have stalled, embarassed and/or documented this attack by Belarusian forces. I had a formative experience regarding the game of chicken years ago. It might look very much off topic at first sight, but please read on and decide for yourself. When I was in secondary school, bored teenagers repeatedly threatened local school bombings, causing the repeated evacuation of several schools. Never the one I went to school at. I later learned why from my father, a teacher at the school. The school did receive bomb threats just like the others. The school head did warn the police. After a short discussion with them, he firmly and politely informed them that our school would not be evacuated, and that was that. He was - and is, at 87- a quiet and soft spoken man, a well respected member of society, but definitely not afraid of a game of chicken.
  - Spooky23 5y ago
    I think your example is very apropos, but people won't just go voluntarily "die on a hill" without support. My guess would be that the gentleman running the school in your example was widely respected and had a solid relationship with his appointing authority (school board, upstream executive, etc) -- they had his back. Does Ryanair offer that type of confidence to pilots as commanders of their aircraft?
GekkePrutser 5y ago
KAL007 proves it's not a good option to play chicken with military jets.

tomp 5y ago

I wonder how they even knew who was no board... Are airlines forced to share the passenger list with every country they fly over? That's news to me, and seems like an unacceptable intrusion of privacy...

pavlov 5y ago
The journalist was being followed by Belarussian KGB agents in Athens, and they boarded the flight with him. They didn't need passenger information from the airline. (They kept the name KGB in Belarus.)
- isbvhodnvemrwvn 5y ago
  Name and methods.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]