Air India flight makes emergency landing at Suvarnabhumi after bomb threat

[webfact]

Air India lands at Suvarnabhumi after a bomb threat


File photo. Source: Internet

BANGKOK: -- An Air India's Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane made an emergency landing at Suvarnabhumi airport Wednesday night after it received a bomb threat.

The airport spokesperson confirmed the bomb threat on the Al332 flight which left New Delhi at 2.00 pm local time.

It landed safely at Suvarnabhumi airport at 7.10 pm with 231 passengers and 10 crew members.

After the landing, the plane was directed by the control tower to head towards a special zone for security check.

All the passengers were evacuated.

The Air Force security personnel and explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) officers then went on board the plane to conduct search of all seats and luggage.

By 9 pm, search was still going on with result not yet known.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/content/155441


-- Thai PBS 2016-03-17

[djjamie]

Lets hope it was only a threat and they catch those involved.

Glad that all on board are safe.

[mcfish]

I'm curious as to what the captain relayed to the passengers as to the reason for diverting.

[webfact]

Air India jet evacuated in bomb scare at Bangkok airport
The Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) — Passengers and crew of an Air India jetliner were evacuated using emergency slides at Bangkok's international airport, and authorities searched the plane for explosives after an apparent bomb hoax Wednesday, officials said.

The scare was prompted by an anonymous call received by the national carrier's office in India, warning of an explosive aboard flight 332 en route from the Indian capital, New Delhi, to Bangkok, said Air India's Thailand manager Indranil Banerjee.

As soon as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner landed at Suvarnabhumi International Airport, the pilots were told to park the aircraft in an isolated spot. All 231 passengers and 10 crew members were immediately evacuated using the aircraft's inflatable slides, Banerjee said.

Security personnel searched the plane but nothing was found, Banerjee said.

Air India spokesman G. P. Rao said the bomb threat call was received in New Delhi an hour before the flight from India's capital was to land at Bangkok.

The aircraft, which was scheduled to fly to Mumbai on Wednesday night, will now depart on Thursday.


-- (c) Associated Press 2016-03-17

[khaosai]

I'm curious as to what the captain relayed to the passengers as to the reason for diverting.

They would most likely say that a threat had been made against the aircraft and then include the landing airport and time of landing.

[steven100]

those pesky indian's are making trouble again !!

[steven100]

I'm curious as to what the captain relayed to the passengers as to the reason for diverting.

he was playing 'one night in Bangkok' on his MP3 when he decided to land ........

[Wilsonandson]

Source TNAMCOT

[Robbie Dye]

Someone currying a favour?

[prestburypark]

Air India, Jet Airways, never again, worst airlines I have ever used. Transiting in India is pants too.

One thing: headline states "Emergency Landing in Bangkok" I looked to see the final destination, which was : Bangkok.

So there was no diversion to BKK. So it actually landed where it should have and presumably on time, but one hour out from destination there was a bomb threat?

Surely the Headline should have made this clearer, :" Bomb Threat to Air India Plane Arriving at Bangkok", for example.

Just Saying.

[kiwikeith]

I'm curious as to what the captain relayed to the passengers as to the reason for diverting.

They would most likely say that a threat had been made against the aircraft and then include the landing airport and time of landing.

Not diverted it was heading for BK and Indian authorities notified when the plane was 1 hour out from BK.

Sicko if it was a joke but I hope they step up security .

[Nemesis7]

First of if it was a hoax they should get hold of the caller and give a string examplorary punishment which can be even a capital punishment for playing with so many people's lives.

Secondly Air India and Indian based airlines has been always a subject like this even in the past including stories of hijack. That's bad for their business and reputation in deed.

[NextStationBangkok]

Probably Pakistan is playing cricket in India!

Pakistan never allow Indians celebrating victory against them.

[FloridaExport]

Air India, Jet Airways, never again, worst airlines I have ever used. Transiting in India is pants too.

One thing: headline states "Emergency Landing in Bangkok" I looked to see the final destination, which was : Bangkok.

So there was no diversion to BKK. So it actually landed where it should have and presumably on time, but one hour out from destination there was a bomb threat?

Surely the Headline should have made this clearer, :" Bomb Threat to Air India Plane Arriving at Bangkok", for example.

Just Saying.

I'm curious as to what the captain relayed to the passengers as to the reason for diverting.

They would most likely say that a threat had been made against the aircraft and then include the landing airport and time of landing.

Not diverted it was heading for BK and Indian authorities notified when the plane was 1 hour out from BK.

Sicko if it was a joke but I hope they step up security .

It may have been diverted from its original course. If movies are to be believed, a pilot will fly at a much lower altitude if a bomb is suspected due to a pressurized cabin being more likely to suffer catastrophic depressurization at higher altitudes.

[torpedo1970]

Smelling a fish

Threat given one hour before landing ?

That ensuring no diverting to other airport.

Plane searched for bombs and cleared all other contraband enters Thailand?

[stoneyboy]

The plane was given priority and diverted to land and flew a path much different to normal for obvious reasons.

We touched down in a matter of minutes after the Female captain announced that Air India had received a call at head office and Thai air traffic control had given us priority.

It was an unbelievable situation to be in and one which will remain with me for the rest of my life.

Sadly in this instance I also had my elderly parents with me who are also rather shook up,my mother especially of whom I dragged from the evacuation slide and literally ran for our lives.

[stoneyboy]

Incidentally as can be seen from the picture,according to sources we were seated two rows in front of the alleged suspect baggage which was thought to be in hand baggage placed in the over head bin.

[webfact]

Dreamliner cleared of bomb threat



BANGKOK: -- Air India's Boeing 787 Dreamliner parked at Suvarnabhumi airport's isolated parking stand was cleared of bomb threat after explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) officers found nothing suspicious in several hours of search on the plane and all luggage.

The airline’s Flight AI 332 from Mumbai landed at the Thai international airport at 7.10 pm with 231 passengers and 10 crew members.

The plane was immediately directed to taxi to the isolate parking stand under the international emergency response plan in case of a bomb threat on plane.

All passengers and crew members were evacuated and the Air Force’s EOD team and security personnel went on board to search.

After almost five hours of search, suspicious object was not found, and the airport later called off its emergency response plan after midnight.

The plane left the Indian capital at 2.05pm local time Wednesday. It arrived at 7.10pm Thailand time.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/content/155506


-- Thai PBS 2016-03-17

[mcfish]

Air India, Jet Airways, never again, worst airlines I have ever used. Transiting in India is pants too.

One thing: headline states "Emergency Landing in Bangkok" I looked to see the final destination, which was : Bangkok.

So there was no diversion to BKK. So it actually landed where it should have and presumably on time, but one hour out from destination there was a bomb threat?

Surely the Headline should have made this clearer, :" Bomb Threat to Air India Plane Arriving at Bangkok", for example.

Just Saying.

I'm curious as to what the captain relayed to the passengers as to the reason for diverting.

They would most likely say that a threat had been made against the aircraft and then include the landing airport and time of landing.

Not diverted it was heading for BK and Indian authorities notified when the plane was 1 hour out from BK.

Sicko if it was a joke but I hope they step up security .

It may have been diverted from its original course. If movies are to be believed, a pilot will fly at a much lower altitude if a bomb is suspected due to a pressurized cabin being more likely to suffer catastrophic depressurization at higher altitudes.

Very interesting point you make. That certainly would be logical but because the air is way more dense down there the speed would be dramatically reduced exposing the aircraft to the threat for a longer time. It wouldn't happen over the ocean for example but if an alternate airport was fairly close, maybe..

[asdecas]

First of if it was a hoax they should get hold of the caller and give a string examplorary punishment which can be even a capital punishment for playing with so many people's lives.

Secondly Air India and Indian based airlines has been always a subject like this even in the past including stories of hijack. That's bad for their business and reputation in deed.

What is a "string examplorary punishment"? It sounds frightwineing, or is it a case of one sisal fits all?

[how241]

stoneyboy, on 17 Mar 2016 - 10:39, said:

The plane was given priority and diverted to land and flew a path much different to normal for obvious reasons.

We touched down in a matter of minutes after the Female captain announced that Air India had received a call at head office and Thai air traffic control had given us priority.

It was an unbelievable situation to be in and one which will remain with me for the rest of my life.

Sadly in this instance I also had my elderly parents with me who are also rather shook up,my mother especially of whom I dragged from the evacuation slide and literally ran for our lives.

ImageUploadedByThaivisa Connect1458185850.233568.jpg

Thanks for that report...What a pain-in-the-ass that someone can so easily call or e-mail a threat and disrupt so many peoples plans...

[RT555]

The bottom 8 out of 10 airline crashes are Indian.... I WOULD NEVER FLY ANY INDIAN AIRLINES.... even if it was free..

[gandalf12]

I'm curious as to what the captain relayed to the passengers as to the reason for diverting.

They would most likely say that a threat had been made against the aircraft and then include the landing airport and time of landing.

They would make no indication of a threat. More likely that they have a small problem, nothing to worry about but we are going to get ti checked.....

[prestburypark]

The plane was given priority and diverted to land and flew a path much different to normal for obvious reasons.

We touched down in a matter of minutes after the Female captain announced that Air India had received a call at head office and Thai air traffic control had given us priority.

It was an unbelievable situation to be in and one which will remain with me for the rest of my life.

Sadly in this instance I also had my elderly parents with me who are also rather shook up,my mother especially of whom I dragged from the evacuation slide and literally ran for our lives.

ImageUploadedByThaivisa Connect1458185850.233568.jpg

Really sorry to hear you and your folks were on board, Stoneyboy. And that evacuation slides were used. Hope you are all ok and your folks are recovering, what a crappy way to end a long journey.

regards,

PP

[arunsakda]

I can understand an emergency landing and deplaning under such situation but as a current Airline Captain, barring any other information, ordering an emergency evacuation via slides was not called for. The potential for injury too great.

The Air India Captain should be "rusticated".

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[khaosai]

I'm curious as to what the captain relayed to the passengers as to the reason for diverting.

They would most likely say that a threat had been made against the aircraft and then include the landing airport and time of landing.

They would make no indication of a threat. More likely that they have a small problem, nothing to worry about but we are going to get ti checked.....

You may well be correct, each airline will have a different policy on what is actually communicated to the passengers and crew.

I based that on what I would do faced with this situation.

A specific rather than vague threat will be treated more seriously. That will possibly lead to an evacuation via slides, however it's at the Captains discretion based on the information he has at the time.

Edited March 17, 2016 by khaosai

[arunsakda]

I made my post admitting that I don't have all the information however an evacuation via slides will almost always cause some minor injuries.

If they had time to taxi to a parking area and shutdown could they not arrange for airstairs to be brought to the plane?

If the threat WAS imminent one would not take time to taxi one would stop on the runway or just clear of the runway and order an immediate emergency evacuation.

Now if they told me it would be half an hour to get airstairs into position that would be another thing but this is ridiculous as aircraft at BKK park at the remote

stands all the time and they have plenty of airstairs and passenger busses suitably provisioned.

Sorry to be the sunday morning referree but calling for an emergency evacuation is one of the most serious decisions a Captain can be called to make.

As long as the decision is make in the best interests of safety good job on the crew! And fortunately it does not appear anyone was hurt.

I've gone down the chutes on a mockup and it's a bit of fun actually! 8 slides on a Dreamliner is a pricy bit of kit but they are routinely repacked and certified

anyway and that's what the slides are there for. Just the cost of doing business.

Edited March 18, 2016 by arunsakda

[stoneyboy]

The plane was taxied close to a fire station after landing.

The time after landing and evacuating the aircraft was around about 10 minutes maybe 15. ( It felt like and eternity)

Once the aircraft was stationary the flight attendants gave an announcement to remain seated with our seat belts fastened and that we may deplane under normal circumstances with our hand luggage,the engines were then shut down.

After a couple more minutes we were then told to unfasten our seat belts and remain seated until further instruction and that all hand luggage should be left behind.

By this point it was evident that it was to be a full scale emergency evacuation due to the number of fire engines surrounding the plane.

We then sat for a few minutes until another announcement was made basically stating that the plane was to be evacuated by emergency slides and with that they basically told us to evacuate.

I am under the impression they were awaiting the arrival of emergency services before the evacuation took place.

As usual people were trying to take personal belongings rather than evacuate the aircraft.

Eyewitness reports that one evacuation slide failed to inflate in the middle of the aircraft.

It was complete and utter panic and the emergency services were absolutely useless,some actually standing there with iPads and mobile phones videoing the whole thing.

Passengers basically ran in all directions and were eventually mustered at various points around the aircraft,the exclusion zone of which that had been set up was in my opinion not far enough from the plane if in fact a bomb was to detonate.

The madness continued for several hours after as can be expected here.

Edited March 18, 2016 by stoneyboy

[arunsakda]

Wow. Last month I was a passenger on a JAL (B777) domestic flight from Osaka. Immediately on takeoff the aft cabin filled with smoke. Like a lot !

Scariest thing I have ever experienced in the air. (turns out there was a air conditioning/pressurization system failure I won't go into) but we were back on the ground in 17 minutes.

The smoke did mostly clear quickly and after landing there was no panic or evacuation.

I your case were all passengers and crew not sequestered, matched with all hand carry luggage, then thoroughly searched and interviewed by the Airport police?

Edited March 18, 2016 by arunsakda

[stoneyboy]

Wow. Last month I was a passenger on a JAL (B777) domestic flight from Osaka. Immediately on takeoff the aft cabin filled with smoke. Like a lot !

Scariest thing I have ever experienced in the air. (turns out there was a air conditioning/pressurization system failure I won't go into) but we were back on the ground in 17 minutes.

The smoke did mostly clear quickly and after landing there was no panic or evacuation.

I your case were all passengers and crew not sequestered, matched with all hand carry luggage, then thoroughly searched and interviewed by the Airport police?

After the incident took place,we were bussed to a an undercover area whereby all passengers were subject to a pat down and search of some baggage but not suitcases or large bags just smaller bags and handbags after that we were registered.

We sat for about three hours unaware of the situation with very little information.

When they did declare the aircraft safe,people were bussed back to near the aircraft in numbers around 30 persons and escorted to identify their checked baggage which was placed on a cart to be taken to the baggage area,we were then allowed to obtain our hand baggage and take it with us to the terminal.

Everyone was escorted by a security guard when retrieving the baggage,that much was done in an orderly effective fashion.

Edited March 18, 2016 by stoneyboy