Ryanair Pilots Questioned Request to Land, Transcript Released by Belarus Shows
May 25 2021 - 3:03PM
Dow Jones News
By Benjamin Katz and Ann M. Simmons
A pilot aboard a Ryanair jetliner forced to land in Belarus over
the weekend repeatedly questioned air-traffic controllers about
their request to reroute the plane to Minsk amid a purported bomb
threat, according to a partial transcript released Tuesday by
Belarus' government aviation agency.
The transcript hasn't been independently verified. Several
pilots and security experts asked to review the accounting by The
Wall Street Journal said it appeared to be genuine, based on the
terminology and back-and-forth typical of such conversations. Some
said the Ryanair pilots, who repeatedly asked for clarification
about the airport at which they were being asked to land, seemed
surprised by the request to divert to Minsk.
"They definitely hesitated," said Ben Berman, a retired U.S.
airline captain and former accident investigator who is now an
airline safety consultant. "They didn't just accept the statement
of the controller."
Dublin-based Ryanair Holdings PLC declined to comment.
Belarus released the conversation as part of an effort to
support the country's version of events in the unusual incident.
The government of President Alexander Lukashenko has said it
received a warning that a bomb was aboard the plane, which was in
Belarus airspace at the time; notified the plane's pilots; advised
it to reroute to Minsk; and scrambled a jet fighter to escort it
there.
On the ground, Belarus officials arrested a prominent dissident
journalist who was on the plane, a Boeing Co. 737-800 en route from
Athens to Vilnius, Lithuania. When the plane turned around for
Minsk, it was closer to Vilnius, raising questions about why it
would fly the extra miles in such an emergency.
European officials have called a bomb threat improbable, and the
European Union has restricted its carriers from flying over
Belarus. European and U.S. officials have condemned the detour as a
brazen act of interference in commercial aviation and have called
for an investigation. Air industry and aviation safety officials
say if the bomb threat was faked, it represents a dangerous
precedent that could erode trust between commercial airlines and
the countries they fly over.
Belarus has said it acted according to international protocols
after receiving correspondence from Hamas, the militant group that
governs the Gaza Strip, that a bomb aboard was set to detonate over
Vilnius. Hamas hasn't responded to requests for comment.
Belarus scrambled a jet fighter to escort the plane to Minsk,
but the country's air force has said the fighter was dispatched
only after the jet turned around, and wasn't meant to intimidate
the pilots.
The Belarus-released transcript is full of radio and cockpit
jargon and ellipses, and several parts are transcribed as
inaudible. But it also generally portrays a cockpit crew calmly
responding to air-traffic controllers' information about the bomb,
and asking lots of questions about that information. A pilot asked
to hear how the bomb threat was communicated to Minsk controllers,
for instance, the seriousness of the threat, and whether the plane
could be patched into Ryanair operational headquarters. It is
unclear from the account that Belarus released whether the plane
was able to communicate with Ryanair.
After relaying the bomb threat, air-traffic controllers
recommended the plane turn around and land at Minsk National
Airport, according to the account.
"For security reasons we ask you to land at UMMS," one
international call sign for Minsk airport, Belarus air-traffic
control told the pilots. A pilot acknowledged that but asked to be
given an alternative.
A few minutes later, a Ryanair pilot asked ground control to
clarify the recommended airport by asking for a different call
sign, that assigned by the International Air Transport Association,
or IATA. Controllers responded with Minsk's IATA code, MSQ.
The pilot asked for controllers to repeat that. A pilot then
asked: "Again, this recommendation to divert to Minsk, where did it
come from?" according to the transcript. "Where did it come from?
Company? Did it come from departure airport authorities or arrival
airport authorities?"
"This is our recommendation," a Belarus controller
responded.
"Say again," the pilot asked.
"This is our recommendation," the controller repeated, before
asking twice for the pilot to advise on a decision about rerouting.
After asking about the severity of the bomb threat, a pilot
responded saying the plane was declaring an emergency and would
turn around for Minsk.
"Our intentions would be to divert to Minsk airport," the pilot
said.
Belarus aviation authorities say they attempted to contact
Ryanair's representative office in Lithuania via a phone number
provided by the crew but say they were unable to get hold of the
company.
--Andrew Tangel and Alison Sider contributed to this
article.
Write to Benjamin Katz at ben.katz@wsj.com and Ann M. Simmons at
ann.simmons@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 25, 2021 14:59 ET (18:59 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Ryanair (LSE:RYA)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Ryanair (LSE:RYA)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024