2 aircraft TYPHOON jets were scrambled tonight to intercept a small helicopter....

[ladyjoanna]

Is it just me or are we not being told everything.......?

I just wonder why 2 fighter jets were sent to a small civilian helicopter tonight, I know they are saying the reason was the pilot was on a wrong frequency, but..... surely (sorry im not anything to do with this) but surely the the airspace guys would have been able to contact the helicopter????? or seen its flight plan, or something???

I don't know it just seems odd. And the money it would have cost??? .........and they were instructed to go supersonic!!! what, just for a little civilian helicopter??

ummmmmm ......now ive just read the russians are constantly testing out our defenses too......what the heck is going on?

maybe im totally wrong, what do i know, im just a young women that knows nothing about our UK defense, but Im a little worried tbh deep down. all seems odd to me.

????:unknown

 

[ladyjoanna]

oh and now......

oh great!!! now sky news NORTH KOREA has tried to launch a long range rocket ????
ummmmmm .............. this is getting worrying..........

Is it just me or are we not being told everything.......?

I just wonder why 2 fighter jets were sent to a small civilian helicopter tonight, I know they are saying the reason was the pilot was on a wrong frequency, but..... surely (sorry im not anything to do with this) but surely the the airspace guys would have been able to contact the helicopter????? or seen its flight plan, or something???

I don't know it just seems odd. And the money it would have cost??? .........and they were instructed to go supersonic!!! what, just for a little civilian helicopter??

ummmmmm ......now ive just read the russians are constantly testing out our defenses too......what the heck is going on?

maybe im totally wrong, what do i know, im just a young women that knows nothing about our UK defense, but Im a little worried tbh deep down. all seems odd to me.

????:unknown

 

[RobWilliams]

Is it just me or are we not being told everything.......?

I just wonder why 2 fighter jets were sent to a small civilian helicopter tonight, I know they are saying the reason was the pilot was on a wrong frequency, but..... surely (sorry im not anything to do with this) but surely the the airspace guys would have been able to contact the helicopter????? or seen its flight plan, or something???

I don't know it just seems odd. And the money it would have cost??? .........and they were instructed to go supersonic!!! what, just for a little civilian helicopter??

ummmmmm ......now ive just read the russians are constantly testing out our defenses too......what the heck is going on?

maybe im totally wrong, what do i know, im just a young women that knows nothing about our UK defense, but Im a little worried tbh deep down. all seems odd to me.

????:unknown

It probably took me far less time to google the story to find the info about why than it took you to write the post.

The Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) crews were scrambled after a civilian helicopter emitted an emergency signal in the Oxford area.

MoD sources said the "idiot" pilot, who has not been identified, had used a wrong frequency to emit the emergency signal that usually indicates an aircraft has either been hijacked or had “gone rogue”.

Fearing that a serious incident was unfolding, MoD officials gave the jets the green light to go “supersonic, which resulted in the sonic boom”.

RAF 'sonic boom' jets spark resident alarm after 'helicopter emergency' - Telegraph

Case closed.

 

[Marc 1]

Remember the olympics are only a couple of months away - it is not only a good test of the defence systems, but the government and MOD are going to be on heightened alert to not let anything slip through lest the press engage in some beatup about "...massive potential risk to athletes" etc...

 

[Vanguard]

Many reasons the RAF will want to be making sure they are in top shape at this time of the year, it has also not been fully stated the location/direction of the helicopter at the time it could have been en route or within range of somewhere dangerous i.e. military establishments, transport hubs etc. namely RAF Brize Norman. Their response is to be expected and is justifyable.

 

[StobieWan]

Just to recap on the technical side, it looks like the aircraft was carrying the usual civilian transponder used by air traffic. These can emit coded signals on command and I believe 7700 is the international distress mode, 7600 is "radio failure" and 7500 is "unlawful interference".

It's possible the pilot meant to select a different squawk code and inadvertently selected 7500. That'll yank everyone's chain and in this case, it looks like everyone was on the ball and good to go. I'd sooner be reading about an intercept and a sonic boom over the mainland than watching pictures of an aircraft embedded in a burning building.

I'm assuming the pilot of the aircraft was suffering some sort of problem at the time as people don't normally fiddle around with transponder settings that look anything like a distress code (for obvious reasons!)

 

[RobWilliams]

Then there's the North Korean rocket launch, it had a potential to be very detrimental to local stability and whilst the political ramifications are still being worked out, the fact the rocket disintergrated a couple of minutes after taking off speaks volumes.

 

[masterkeyholder]

All aircraft carry a SSR transponder. You may have heard atc asking an aircraft to "squawk" followed by a four digit number. This then displays the number attached to your blip on ground radar screen. If you are hijacked or have a comms radio failure or emergency you can dial in a code to the transponder that will alert any ground radar with the interrogation equipment by displaying that code.

EMERGENCY - Mode 3A Code 7700
UNLAWFUL INTERFERENCE - Mode 3A Code 7500

code 7700 is usually selected when not in contact with atc so under certain circumstances when handing off from several atc contacts then dispensing with their service the transponder may remain active which at low, below radar coverage would not be a problem. This or a 'button finger malfunctuction', selecting code 7600 can however become a slight problem if you suddenly pop up on a new radar then disappear with no quick way to establish radio contact. It makes far better sense to 'create an emergency' which makes most guys in pseudo military feel very important and the centre of attention for a while. It may also lead to a 'pat on the back' for your alertness.. you know typical guy ego stuff when you normal are ignored as a cog in the wheel. You can see a similar thing happen when there is a small bump on a motorway in the UK when suddenly both carraigways and all roads within ten miles are closed. Or when a small fire starts with suspicions that there may be a 'gas container' (ok I know they can sometimes blow and do pose a 'slight hazard', only they are desiged for this eventuality so that if they do the blast goes vertical, they are not designed to 'frag') involved then all houses with 2 K's are evacuated. - Ignorance is bliss huh. But you have to admit it makes the general public feel a lot safer doesn’t it? Owh and of couurse your not being told everything... omg if that happened then you would percieve the threat as something that did not warrant the actions very important people have to take on your behalf to keep you safe.

Don't worrry about the cost.. just the flying time alone on these tow aircraft say two hours will only amount to £35,332.84.



radio

Is it just me or are we not being told everything.......?

I just wonder why 2 fighter jets were sent to a small civilian helicopter tonight, I know they are saying the reason was the pilot was on a wrong frequency, but..... surely (sorry im not anything to do with this) but surely the the airspace guys would have been able to contact the helicopter????? or seen its flight plan, or something???

I don't know it just seems odd. And the money it would have cost??? .........and they were instructed to go supersonic!!! what, just for a little civilian helicopter??

ummmmmm ......now ive just read the russians are constantly testing out our defenses too......what the heck is going on?

maybe im totally wrong, what do i know, im just a young women that knows nothing about our UK defense, but Im a little worried tbh deep down. all seems odd to me.

????:unknown

 

[Sea Toby]

This should put to rest amateurs believing fighters operate alone. They don't, and haven't for years. Even during the 9-11 terrorism attacks in the USA, when they scrambled the fighters they scrambled more than one.

 

[Beatmaster]

This should put to rest amateurs believing fighters operate alone. They don't, and haven't for years. Even during the 9-11 terrorism attacks in the USA, when they scrambled the fighters they scrambled more than one.

To my knowledge a scramble is always done by at least 2 vipers, while being guided by some sort of radar communications center.

At least here in the Netherlands if there is a scramble then 2 F-16's (or sometimes 2 F-16 take off and 2 others are being put on high alert and ready to take off) take off from either Volkel AB or Leeuwarden AB and then Millingen Radar Communications Center takes over and guides them towards the " hostile"
And as far as i know this is a standard protocol amongst the western nations.