Airport back to normal after drama of Tornado
Aug 7 2008 by Paul James, The Journal
SAFETY investigators were yesterday examining an RAF Tornado at Newcastle Airport following its emergency landing on Tuesday.
Both the Ministry of Defence and the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) were carrying out separate inquiries into the incident, in which the £30m military jet was hit by bird strike and forced to land at Newcastle.
The airport was out of action for hours after the Tornado overshot the runway, causing delays which lasted into yesterday. Flights in and out of Tyneside gradually resumed normal service over the course of yesterday and airport staff expect flights to be fully back to normal today.
It also emerged yesterday that a second Tornado from the same Marham base in Norfolk was hit by a bird strike on Tuesday afternoon, but made a safe descent to RAF Leeming in Yorkshire.
Newcastle’s Tornado was loaded onto a trailer and removed from the site of the accident at 4.25am yesterday and transported to the apron area on the south side of the airport.
One inbound flight from Corfu that was due to arrive into Newcastle at 4.45am had to be diverted to Manchester as the operation to remove the Tornado was carried out.
Yesterday’s delays, of under an hour, were because of the planes diverted from Newcastle during Tuesday’s disruption having to travel from Manchester, Edinburgh and Durham Tees Valley airports to get back to their regular routes.
An airport spokeswoman yesterday said the Tornado G4 would remain at the airport until the investigations were complete.
She said military aircraft were affected more by bird strikes than passenger planes because of their size and the altitude at which they fly.
The spokeswoman said: “The last one we had was a Tornado positioning for the Sunderland Airshow. They happen from time to time.
“We work around the clock and throughout the year on managing the bird hazard, from getting the right landscaping right down to the length of the grass around the runway.”
The Ministry of Defence confirmed its inquiry was under way and said the second Tornado hit by bird strike had made a safe recovery to RAF Leeming.
A spokesman for the AAIB said: “We’ve deployed a team and they will be investigating. It comes into our scope because it happened at a civilian airfield.
“They will look at all aspects of the incident to form a view of how it happened.”
'Bomb on board'
A HOLIDAY jet flew across the Atlantic to Newcastle despite a passenger finding a note claiming there was a bomb on board, it emerged yesterday.
The man found the hand-written note in a toilet only 20 minutes into the flight from the Dominican Republic to Newcastle International Airport.
He immediately alerted a stewardess and, when two more notes were discovered, the pilot left the cockpit to see for himself.
He decided the notes were a hoax and decided to continue with the scheduled flight rather than divert to the nearest airport.
The Thomsonfly flight from Punta Cana continued unhindered and landed at Newcastle International Airport on time at 4.20am on Monday.
Northumbria Police said three hand-written notes had been found and had "all the hallmarks of a hoax".
A spokesman said: "The plane landed safely in a remote area of the airport and a full search of the aircraft and luggage did not reveal anything suspicious. This incident had all the hallmarks of a hoax."
