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Bomb threat at airport sparks major security operation · Drive with John Perlman

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: John is on X.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: At John Perlman. Well, real problems down at the King
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Palo Airport in Kugompu City today. This after a bomb
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: threat was delivered and very much focused on a particular
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: aircraft that was carrying 184 passengers. So the authorities reacted
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: as they should. A bomb disposal unit was brought in.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: There were explosive detection dogs and so on. But it
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  Speaker 2: raised some questions for me because I have flown in
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: a plane where there was a bomb threat, but it
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: was very unspecific. And I'll go into that a little
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  Speaker 2: bit later. But let's establish what the protocols are. And
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  Speaker 2: for that, we welcome Dr. Guy Leach, aviation expert. Dr. Leach,
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: welcome and thanks very much for your time. Is it
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  Speaker 2: fair to say as soon as there is a threat,
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  Speaker 2: there must be a reaction, no weighing up of its
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  Speaker 2: credibility or not? If someone calls and there's a threat,
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  Speaker 2: then you act and you get everybody on the ground
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  Speaker 2: as quickly as you can.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: 100%, John. Yes, there's no question about trying to weigh
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: up credibility on these things. Any bomb threat, regardless of
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  Speaker 1: how real it may seem or not, is taken absolutely seriously.
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  Speaker 1: And so the first... The thing that the pilots have
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  Speaker 1: to do is get the aircraft on the ground at
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  Speaker 1: the nearest suitable airport.
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  Speaker 2: So the situation I was in was the bomb threat
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  Speaker 2: was quite unspecific. It said there is a bomb on
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: a plane that has left Lisbon sometime this afternoon. And
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  Speaker 2: I mean, by the time the plane I was on
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  Speaker 2: was able to respond, we landed in Windhoek. But what
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: that seemed to do was affect an entire operation. I mean,
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: is it the same there? You know, if you were
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: to do that in regard to the airport in Atlanta,
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  Speaker 2: you're literally dealing with hundreds of planes.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: No, I don't think you should have said that because
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: if somebody was listening who was thinking of a bomb threat,
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: obviously it encouraged them to make it non-specific. But no,
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: in this instance, it was a very specific bomb threat
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  Speaker 1: directed to one specific flight between Atlanta Cape Town and
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  Speaker 1: East London. So, yeah, I think that at least the
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: risk in that sense was contained.
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  Speaker 2: In terms of, you know, if a plane's already in
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: the air, I mean, what do the pilots do? Land
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  Speaker 2: as soon as you can, as safely as you can,
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  Speaker 2: and then what? You get everybody off?
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  Speaker 1: No, well, yeah, it's not just land as soon as
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  Speaker 1: you can. Obviously, they need to minimize the risk for
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  Speaker 1: passengers and crew. So there are Other things, the most significant,
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  Speaker 1: I think, is to descend and slow down. The last
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  Speaker 1: thing you want is a bomb to explode while you're
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: at high altitude with a very pressurized cabin. So the
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: pilot would normally descend to at least 10,000 feet or lower,
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: if at all possible, to minimize the explosive decompression if
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: there was to be an explosion. And obviously slow down
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  Speaker 1: as well because it reduces the stresses on the aircraft.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Another thing that pilots do is that they use the
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  Speaker 1: emergency code on the transponder to squawk 7700, which immediately
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  Speaker 1: gives them a right-of-way through all air traffic management systems. Obviously,
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  Speaker 1: they need to divert if that's the nearest suitable airport.
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  Speaker 1: And in many cases, they actually launch a fighter escort,
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  Speaker 1: although exactly what that is going to do, one doesn't know. But,
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  Speaker 1: I mean, other actions that are required of the crew,
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  Speaker 1: which I think are beyond the court of duty, is to,
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  Speaker 1: if possible, move the bomb to what's called a least-risk
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  Speaker 1: bomb location, probably near a door. So if it was
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: to explode again, it would minimize the damage to the airframe.
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  Speaker 2: What are the penalties that apply to somebody who does
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  Speaker 2: something as destructive and malevolent as this?
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I thought you might ask me that question and
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  Speaker 1: I've got no clue.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: Sorry about that.
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  Speaker 1: I know it's up to the courts, but all I
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  Speaker 1: can say is that they take these things incredibly seriously
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  Speaker 1: because the threat is so big and because it's so
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  Speaker 1: easy to make them. You know, you can take out
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  Speaker 1: a gripe on an airline or anything else or just
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  Speaker 1: be mischievous and cause immense disruption. Your example of adventure
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  Speaker 1: or whatever else, was a case in point. The cost
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  Speaker 1: of the disruptions is absolutely enormous. Fortunately, in this particular instance,
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  Speaker 1: the fight actually continued on to East London being the
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  Speaker 1: nearest suitable landing site.
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  Speaker 2: In terms of the frequency of this, I mean, obviously,
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  Speaker 2: because it's in the news, we're interested, we're following it.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not aware of this happening particularly often. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: is that in fact the case that, you know, there's
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  Speaker 2: a high level of security at airports that doesn't prevent,
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  Speaker 2: of course, the crank calls.
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  Speaker 1: Sorry. This is an interesting subject because I wrote a
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  Speaker 1: piece a little while ago about whether all these security
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  Speaker 1: checks have become more theater than effective. You know, taking
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  Speaker 1: off your shoes and belts and scanning the computer separately.
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  Speaker 1: But it has worked. There can be no mistake about it.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, we have enormously reduced the risk of of
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  Speaker 1: bomb attacks. I mean, when was the last time you
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: heard of a significant bomb attack? That was when the
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  Speaker 1: gas liquids and the nags were created by somebody who
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  Speaker 1: was going to assemble a bomb on board from separate ingredients.
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  Speaker 1: That was, what, 20 years ago. So I think that
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  Speaker 1: despite the pain that we have to endure for these checks,
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  Speaker 1: I think that it has effectively eliminated them. So we
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  Speaker 1: might get hoax bomb threats. But it's extremely difficult to
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  Speaker 1: effectively get a bomb on board. And in fact, I
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  Speaker 1: think the last time we spoke, we talked about how
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  Speaker 1: the risk of pilot suicide was now far greater than
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  Speaker 1: any other risk.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. And in terms of just finally, I mean, all
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: the systems that need to click into gear when there's
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  Speaker 2: something like this, obviously there needs to be a response
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: in the air if the plane's already taken off. There
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  Speaker 2: needs to be a response and a reaction on the
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  Speaker 2: ground preparation of fire control vehicles and so on. It
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  Speaker 2: may be too early to ask for your assessment, Dr. Leach,
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  Speaker 2: but do you get a sense that everything that ought
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: to have happened, happened today and happened in good time?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I do. I think that the systems are very
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: much in place. The procedures are very much in place.
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  Speaker 1: The aircraft was parked at a remote parking lot. The
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  Speaker 1: passengers were debussed or unloaded as soon as possible. The
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  Speaker 1: emergency services were there in attendance. They had bomb disposal
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  Speaker 1: units ready to go through the aircraft with a fine-toothed gun. And, indeed,
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  Speaker 1: they took two hours to clear it. So, yeah, I
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: don't think it's funny that I'm pleased to say. I
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: don't think that AXA or the police dropped the ball
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  Speaker 1: in this particular instance.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Dr. Guy Leach, aviation expert. I
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: know it's a long shot, but anyone who might have
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: been flying in or out of Kukompo City today and
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: experienced what happened there firsthand. And have you ever been
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: in a situation like this? As I mentioned, I have
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: a story of my own, which I think I've told before,
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  Speaker 2: so I'm not going to go into it. at any
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  Speaker 2: great lengths, but maybe you have a tale to tell.
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  Speaker 2: Maybe you've been part of an air crew where this
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: has been a potential issue. Lots of people out there
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  Speaker 2: with bits to share. Please do share them on 072-702-1702.