Fighter planes were scrambled in Swiss airspace after notification was received of a bomb threat on board El Al flight LY2. The notification appears to have originated in France. Two fighter jets escorted the flight on its way to Ben-Gurion International Airport.
The fighter aircraft from Switzerland were scrambled on Tuesday morning 29 Sivan after the El Al flight from New York to Tel Aviv was the target of a bomb scare in the form of an anonymous notification originating in France.
The Swiss air force said in a statement that it deployed jets around 8:30 a.m. on a so-called “hot mission,” that accompanied El Al Flight 002 from John F. Kennedy airport. Vladi Barrosa, a spokesman for the Swiss government-run air navigation service Skyguide, said the plane left Swiss airspace safely into Austrian airspace.
The incident caused concern among locals in German-speaking Switzerland after two sonic booms echoed after two Swiss F/A-18 aircraft were deployed for the escort.
French military jets had reportedly also escorted the flight prior to its entry into Swiss airspace. French officials had no immediate comment.
The flight, LYS in question landed in Ben-Gurion at 12:37PM without incident Baruch Hashem as passengers were unaware of what occurred.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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9 Responses
Well the person who took the picture knew something was going on.
What would these fighter jets help if there was a bomb on the plane- anyone?
Crazy
Nothing- but if the plane had been hijacked they could intercept before it could, say, fly into a building.
The red-cross plane in the background would have been able to shoot down the commercial flight had it been hijhacked and was headed toward a population center with explosives or biologic agents on board. Its standard practice among all air-forces around the world to have such contingency plans.
Gadolhadorah—Its not a Red Cross plane, its the Swiss Air Force, their flag is a red cross
No passenger took that photo. It’s a standard picture from a file.
To MosheB….obviously……should have said “plane with red cross”, not “red cross plane”….
Hi Gadol! I’m not the one who corrected you on that. Lol