Loud bang was sonic boom of RAF jets scrambling to 767

Tuesday, 02 Dec, 2019 0

A loud bang experienced by people in London and the Home Counties on Sunday morning was caused by the sonic boom of two RAF jets scrambling to a Boeing 767 that had dropped out of contact.

The aircraft had recently been decommissioned by El Al and was being flown from Tel Aviv to the US when its radio malfunctioned across Germany.

Pilot Steven Giordano told the BBC of the moment he spotted the typhoons: "I looked left and about had a heart attack when I saw one – so close – strobes on and with blueish ‘glow strips’ along the side of his fuselage.

"We flashed our landing lights to acknowledge and established radio contact on ‘guard’… with the fighters. We were already talking to London control at that point. They remained with us for about five minutes."

The sonic boom happened at around 4.20am.

The Royal Air Force jets were scrambled from Coningsby in Lincolnshire after the 767 lost communication in UK airspace, the Ministry of Defence said.

In June two RAF aircraft were scrambled to assist a Jet2 flight into Stansted after a passenger became disruptive.

The passenger was later charged.

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Lisa

Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.

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