Transcript of controller telling plane to land in Minsk • Hacker News Board

Re: Transcript of controller telling plane to land in Minsk

#21

Post by pc86 » Tue, May 25, 2021, 5:19 PM UTC

Sebb767 wrote: post #7

> Pilot: Again, this recommendation to divert to Minsk where did it come from? Where did it come from? Company? Did it come from departure airport authorities or arrival airport authorities? Is it usual for a pilot to ask for all this information? From a "casual reader" perspective, it looks like the pilot really did not want to divert, but this might just be my reading.

Not an airline pilot, but I am a private pilot.

Yes, I think it's normal to ask for more information while complying with instructions from ATC, [their] workload permitting. And you're required to comply with ATC instructions except in an emergency (doesn't necessarily have to be declared).

Re: Transcript of controller telling plane to land in Minsk

#22

Post by jahabrewer » Tue, May 25, 2021, 5:19 PM UTC

Unbelievable that they'd go through this charade to arrest ~Snowden~ Protasevich.

Re: Transcript of controller telling plane to land in Minsk

#23

Post by tomphoolery » Tue, May 25, 2021, 5:20 PM UTC

Sebb767 wrote: post #7

> Pilot: Again, this recommendation to divert to Minsk where did it come from? Where did it come from? Company? Did it come from departure airport authorities or arrival airport authorities? Is it usual for a pilot to ask for all this information? From a "casual reader" perspective, it looks like the pilot really did not want to divert, but this might just be my reading.

If you're Russian? I would. No point in trusting any authority to be doing the right thing over there.

Re: Transcript of controller telling plane to land in Minsk

#24

Post by [deleted] » Tue, May 25, 2021, 5:20 PM UTC

88 wrote: post #18

Sebb767 wrote: post #7

> Pilot: Again, this recommendation to divert to Minsk where did it come from? Where did it come from? Company? Did it come from departure airport authorities or arrival airport authorities? Is it usual for a pilot to ask for all this information? From a "casual reader" perspective, it looks like the pilot really did not want to divert, but this might just be my reading.

If you were told there is a bomb on board your plane, would you not be the slightest bit interested in some additional information about where that intelligence has come from? I suspect airlines get hoax bomb threats on a regular basis so pilots are keen to understand the source and veracity of the threats.

[deleted]

Re: Transcript of controller telling plane to land in Minsk

#25

Post by intricatedetail » Tue, May 25, 2021, 5:22 PM UTC

jahabrewer wrote: post #22

Unbelievable that they'd go through this charade to arrest ~Snowden~ Protasevich.

It is mostly testing Biden administration. First Israel now Belarus. Probably more disruption is coming as so far responses are weak.

Re: Transcript of controller telling plane to land in Minsk

#26

Post by donretag » Tue, May 25, 2021, 5:24 PM UTC

The controller[s] were probably just as powerless as the pilot (considering the fighter escort). Get that plane to land, period.

Were they reading from a script and did they improvise?

Re: Transcript of controller telling plane to land in Minsk

#27

Post by StavrosK » Tue, May 25, 2021, 5:24 PM UTC

fy20 wrote: post #14

dboreham wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> pilot knew something was off The whole "there's a bomb that can be detonated over Vilnius" so you have to divert to an airport further away, where I am speaking from" thing sounds like a B-movie plot.

At the point they diverted they could have also flown to Kaunas (a Ryanair base) if the concern was to avoid flying over Vilnius. That would also have been closer than Minsk.

I don't think the pilot was aware of any reason not to fly to Minsk at the time.

Re: Transcript of controller telling plane to land in Minsk

#28

Post by terom » Tue, May 25, 2021, 5:25 PM UTC

The caa.gov.by news release has a much more complete (Belarusian-sourced) transcript than the edited Reuters one: http://caa.gov.by/ru/news-ru/view/1-203/

EDIT: copy-pasta from (Belarusian) source https://gist.github.com/SpComb/849b97bae720cb77ab4c43ef92dae...

Re: Transcript of controller telling plane to land in Minsk

#29

Post by r721 » Tue, May 25, 2021, 5:25 PM UTC

>according to a transcript released on Tuesday by authorities in Belarus.

>Following are excerpts from the transcript, which Reuters was unable to verify.

I would wait for a Ryanair transcript.

Re: Transcript of controller telling plane to land in Minsk

#30

Post by zerkten » Tue, May 25, 2021, 5:26 PM UTC

Sebb767 wrote: post #7

> Pilot: Again, this recommendation to divert to Minsk where did it come from? Where did it come from? Company? Did it come from departure airport authorities or arrival airport authorities? Is it usual for a pilot to ask for all this information? From a "casual reader" perspective, it looks like the pilot really did not want to divert, but this might just be my reading.

I haven't had time to follow this episode to the level of detail I normally would. I would expect a number of factors at play around hesitancy, not limited to:

* Expectation of contact on other frequencies.

* Minsk directly stating bomb on board with connection to Vilnius (may not be protocol)

* Airport staff sent email (again, is this correct protocol?)

* Message being that activation is over Vilnius (pilot may have accepted that, but also accepted that they had sufficient fuel to hold)

* Pilot considering bomb may be activated by altitude (hence wanting to hold versus make immediate landing in place with relatively poor facilities)

* Lack of NATO or other western agency involvement. Again, this is a sudden and extremely difficult situation, but pilot probably knows they fuel to make a more considered decision on actions.

I look forward to learning more from this incident. You should be able to trust any controller is acting in good faith as a civilian navigator, but that's clearly not the case.