Israeli Bomb Flights in Suffolk
inter | 30.07.2006 12:10 | Lebanon War 2006 | Anti-militarism | Anti-racism | Cambridge
It has emerged that two flights due to touch down at Prestwick on Saturday were diverted to the RAF Mildenhall military base in Suffolk. A third Atlas Air flight was believed to have landed at Prestwick. There has been no official confirmation of what was on board the planes. A spokesman for the US air force at RAF Mildenhall said two aircraft had been diverted from Prestwick. He said the Atlas cargo flights arrived late on Saturday night and would depart on Sunday. He could not comment on what was on board the planes, but said they were there to refuel and allow the crew to rest. A spokesman for Prestwick said the diversions meant that no such flights were due to land at the airport on Sunday. -BBC
If any of you are in Suffolk and have a camera, please try and get to Mildenhall - if you get a photo of them it will help us and you could sell it to the corporate newswires for cash, just add a lower resolution copy here too.
It is interesting having tracked this story through the media how much more information has been released today, and how much contradictory information is still being released. I can understand why Sunday newspaper journalists 'hold on to' useful information until their stories can be published, but BBC online have no such excuse. Elsewhere it is also reported Israeli military aircraft have also been landing at Prestwick over the past weeks, presumably also shipping US bombs to Israel, unless they are just shipping the newly-painted aircraft themselves. Perhaps the Israelis are planning to bomb Tipton from Prestwick - I doubt Blair would complain if they did.
Atlas Air are one of the US Civil Reserve Air Fleet and so any of their flights are targets for direct action whether the BBC information is a red-herring or not. It is interesting looking at those airlines cargo flight schedules how much of their work is to and from the middle-east both for the US and corportate work. I think peace groups should officially boycott those airlines and will be proposing this to whatever groups I know. I am aware that probably none of us use those airlines but middle-eastern businesses and governments do, and could easily be embarrassed ny a boycott into stopping using what are effectively Israeli gun-runners.
I also think we should be publicising the extra dangers anyone using Prestwick airport now faces due to it's deliberate policy of attracting explosive and politicised cargoes. I'm happy to take risks with my own life but if I really wouldn't fly from Prestwick now with any of my loved ones. The security of Prestwick is a joke. Have a look at it on GoogleMaps and you see the airport fuel tanks are about 15 feet from an unguarded perimeter fence. There is always plenty of military hardware on site including up to 11 tons of explosives as it is effectively an RAF site without RAF guards, and the CAA guards are less fit and less scary than your local supermarket security staff. It's not like Scotland hasn't suffered civilian casuality 'blow-back' from US aggression before - Lockerbie isn't too far away.
The Irish government doesn't allow US bombs to be shipped through Shannon and refused these flights - I think credit for that goes to the Shannon activists. I think the people of Scotland are now in a race to close down Prestwick peaceably before someone else closes it down forceably. It won't stop the flights though - they just reroute them to military airfields. The big question is why do we accept US gun-running but also why were they ever routed through a civilian airfield unnecessarily ?
The US Civil Reserve Air Fleet is the modern aerial equivalent of the Merchant Navy. They not only ship arms regularly but play vital roles in military offensives. For instance, their 6 Eagle Flag exercises where they build airfields from scratch on any surface for any aircraft to establish local air superiority, this is how they invade countries now. Secure an airstrip and then bomb the locals to smithereens. They have established 32 airstrips using Eagle Flag techniques since 2001, all to bomb muslims. And yet other supposedly muslim governments also employ them.
US Civil Reserve Air Fleet
Long-Range International Section:
ABX Air
Air Transport International
American Airlines
ATA Airlines
Arrow Air
Astar Air Cargo
Atlas Air
Continental Airlines
Delta Air Lines
Evergreen International
FEDEX Express Airlines
Gemini Air Cargo
Hawaiian Airlines
Kalitta Air
North American Airlines
Northwest Airlines
Omni International
Polar Air Cargo
Ryan International
Southern Air
United Airlines
United Parcel Service Airlines
US Airways
World Airways
It is interesting having tracked this story through the media how much more information has been released today, and how much contradictory information is still being released. I can understand why Sunday newspaper journalists 'hold on to' useful information until their stories can be published, but BBC online have no such excuse. Elsewhere it is also reported Israeli military aircraft have also been landing at Prestwick over the past weeks, presumably also shipping US bombs to Israel, unless they are just shipping the newly-painted aircraft themselves. Perhaps the Israelis are planning to bomb Tipton from Prestwick - I doubt Blair would complain if they did.
Atlas Air are one of the US Civil Reserve Air Fleet and so any of their flights are targets for direct action whether the BBC information is a red-herring or not. It is interesting looking at those airlines cargo flight schedules how much of their work is to and from the middle-east both for the US and corportate work. I think peace groups should officially boycott those airlines and will be proposing this to whatever groups I know. I am aware that probably none of us use those airlines but middle-eastern businesses and governments do, and could easily be embarrassed ny a boycott into stopping using what are effectively Israeli gun-runners.
I also think we should be publicising the extra dangers anyone using Prestwick airport now faces due to it's deliberate policy of attracting explosive and politicised cargoes. I'm happy to take risks with my own life but if I really wouldn't fly from Prestwick now with any of my loved ones. The security of Prestwick is a joke. Have a look at it on GoogleMaps and you see the airport fuel tanks are about 15 feet from an unguarded perimeter fence. There is always plenty of military hardware on site including up to 11 tons of explosives as it is effectively an RAF site without RAF guards, and the CAA guards are less fit and less scary than your local supermarket security staff. It's not like Scotland hasn't suffered civilian casuality 'blow-back' from US aggression before - Lockerbie isn't too far away.
The Irish government doesn't allow US bombs to be shipped through Shannon and refused these flights - I think credit for that goes to the Shannon activists. I think the people of Scotland are now in a race to close down Prestwick peaceably before someone else closes it down forceably. It won't stop the flights though - they just reroute them to military airfields. The big question is why do we accept US gun-running but also why were they ever routed through a civilian airfield unnecessarily ?
The US Civil Reserve Air Fleet is the modern aerial equivalent of the Merchant Navy. They not only ship arms regularly but play vital roles in military offensives. For instance, their 6 Eagle Flag exercises where they build airfields from scratch on any surface for any aircraft to establish local air superiority, this is how they invade countries now. Secure an airstrip and then bomb the locals to smithereens. They have established 32 airstrips using Eagle Flag techniques since 2001, all to bomb muslims. And yet other supposedly muslim governments also employ them.
US Civil Reserve Air Fleet
Long-Range International Section:
ABX Air
Air Transport International
American Airlines
ATA Airlines
Arrow Air
Astar Air Cargo
Atlas Air
Continental Airlines
Delta Air Lines
Evergreen International
FEDEX Express Airlines
Gemini Air Cargo
Hawaiian Airlines
Kalitta Air
North American Airlines
Northwest Airlines
Omni International
Polar Air Cargo
Ryan International
Southern Air
United Airlines
United Parcel Service Airlines
US Airways
World Airways
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Additions
CAA negligence and immunity from law
01.08.2006 15:34
The Sunday Mail reports 20 Blu-133 ( not blue-113 ) SuperPenetrator bombs on one flight - the smallest of the flights. Each Blu-113 has 285kg of Tritonal explosives. Tritonal is TNT mixed with aluminium and is 18% more powerful than ordinary TNT. So this one 707 had 5700kg of Tritonal which is equivalent to 6726 kg of TNT.
Each airport has limit on the total explosives permitted at any given time, referred to as the NEQ or Net Explosive Quantity. The NEQ for any object varies according to the type of explosive so to ease calculations the NEQ of any explosive device is labelled on the device. Thus to check the NEQ for the Aiport you have to check the cargo of all transit flights.
Prestwick Airport have stated that they didn't check the cargo of transit flights. In this case they could hve no idea whether the airport breached its own NEQ limits. While this one flight may not in itself have breached the airports NEQ, given that the airport is used by other military flights it seems more than likely that they have. Not checking cargo seems to in itself criminal negligence.
I reported this as a potential crime to Prestwick police station but was told to report it to the CAA Aviation Regulation, Enforcement and Investigation branch. I was asked to phone back as the head of dept was on lunch. Then he was in a meeting. Then he had left the building and wouldn't be back for a few days. The dept. suggested I phone Aerodrome standards but noone there was available. So I phoned back the CAA Aviation Regulation, Enforcement and Investigation branch again and insisted on reporting it as a potential crime. I was told someone would phone me back. They haven't.
Off the record I was told by one airport freight manager that NEQ limits don't apply to military flights. These were not all military flights, many of these these were flying under civilian call signs as chartered air transport. No one in the CAA has yet been able to inform me which legislation or regulations limit airport NEQ. The CAA regulations mistakenly refer to section 59 of the Air Navigation (Carriage of Munitions of War, Weapons and Dangerous Goods) Order, 1973 - in fact it is section 69 that deals with munitions of war and it makes no reference to NEQ.
If it is indeed true that NEQ excludes military explosives then calculating the NEQ for an airport is an exercise in futility, or in deliberate public deception. Who in Prestwick cares if only 11 tons of civilian explosives can be onsite if an unlimited tonnage of military explosives are permitted ?
The BBC are now reporting these flights will be routed through military airports only for political reasons - all credit to the Prestwick protestors for that small victory. However, this does not disguise or mitigate the failure of the CAA regulatory body to have allowed this breach in safety guidelines, to have admitted to not checking flights that they are obliged to check and for refusing so far to accept or even note my report of this breach.
Each airport has limit on the total explosives permitted at any given time, referred to as the NEQ or Net Explosive Quantity. The NEQ for any object varies according to the type of explosive so to ease calculations the NEQ of any explosive device is labelled on the device. Thus to check the NEQ for the Aiport you have to check the cargo of all transit flights.
Prestwick Airport have stated that they didn't check the cargo of transit flights. In this case they could hve no idea whether the airport breached its own NEQ limits. While this one flight may not in itself have breached the airports NEQ, given that the airport is used by other military flights it seems more than likely that they have. Not checking cargo seems to in itself criminal negligence.
I reported this as a potential crime to Prestwick police station but was told to report it to the CAA Aviation Regulation, Enforcement and Investigation branch. I was asked to phone back as the head of dept was on lunch. Then he was in a meeting. Then he had left the building and wouldn't be back for a few days. The dept. suggested I phone Aerodrome standards but noone there was available. So I phoned back the CAA Aviation Regulation, Enforcement and Investigation branch again and insisted on reporting it as a potential crime. I was told someone would phone me back. They haven't.
Off the record I was told by one airport freight manager that NEQ limits don't apply to military flights. These were not all military flights, many of these these were flying under civilian call signs as chartered air transport. No one in the CAA has yet been able to inform me which legislation or regulations limit airport NEQ. The CAA regulations mistakenly refer to section 59 of the Air Navigation (Carriage of Munitions of War, Weapons and Dangerous Goods) Order, 1973 - in fact it is section 69 that deals with munitions of war and it makes no reference to NEQ.
If it is indeed true that NEQ excludes military explosives then calculating the NEQ for an airport is an exercise in futility, or in deliberate public deception. Who in Prestwick cares if only 11 tons of civilian explosives can be onsite if an unlimited tonnage of military explosives are permitted ?
The BBC are now reporting these flights will be routed through military airports only for political reasons - all credit to the Prestwick protestors for that small victory. However, this does not disguise or mitigate the failure of the CAA regulatory body to have allowed this breach in safety guidelines, to have admitted to not checking flights that they are obliged to check and for refusing so far to accept or even note my report of this breach.
Unlawful
Comments
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40 tons of bombs on one flight
31.07.2006 02:37
Such as one of the smaller flights, a 707 as opposed to the larger 310's and 747s, was carrying 88620lbs = 40144 kg = 40 tons of explosives on a supposedly civilian flight.
Papers obtained by Sunday Mail investigators reveal how the US tried to sneak at least one deadly cargo through Prestwick as a civilian flight.
But the innocent-looking 707 was carrying 20 lethal 120 Blue- 113 warheads, powerful enough to penetrate 20ft of concrete.
Details of the plane's dodgy flight plans make a mockery of George Bush's apology for using Prestwick.
We can also reveal:
A staggering six flights and 120 bombs will have left Prestwick for the killing fields of Lebanon by tonight.
A US military Hercules aircraft with a secret payload made an emergency landing at Prestwick after engine failure.
Irish aviation bosses refused to let the American flights use their air space.
And last night it was reported that Israel Air Force planes had also been landing at Prestwick.
It was claimed five jets use the airport as a staging post between the US and the Middle East - the most recent landing last Sunday.
It is thought the planes were en route to Israel from the massive Dover Air Base in Delaware.
Yesterday, as the civilian death toll in Lebanon and Israel rose to 623, a US 747 Atlas Air flight carrying weapons from an airbase was being fuelled in Prestwick.
A Civil Aviation Authority spokesman said: "The items they are carrying are understood to be of a dangerous nature."
The flight path documents are the first proof that the planes were carrying bombs to the Israeli army for the devastating attacks that have claimed hundreds of innocent lives.
Airport officials and civil servants on both sides of the Atlantic have refused to confirm details of loads.
But the Sunday Mail found damning evidence of the cover-up in a flight plan for a Kalitta Boeing 707 from a military base in San Antonio, Texas.
There are no clues to the deadly cargo it was carrying because the flight plan bears a civilian call sign instead of a military one.
But a second document for the same plane reveals the truth - it was set for Israel and was carrying 20 laser-guided bombs with fuses.
The document lists the weight of the payload as WT LBS 88620.
The plane landed without diplomatic clearance and neither air traffic controllers nor the fire brigade knew it was carrying bombs.
Our documents show the extent of what the six planes each carried - 20 laser-guided bombs, each weighing 4400lb.
Missile
Four landed between Thursday, July 20, and Sunday, July 23, with a further one operated by US airline Atlas Air landing yesterday.
A sixth flight is due to come through Prestwick today.
The Irish Civil Aviation Authority last night confirmed they refused one plane permission use their air space when it set off from Prestwick for Israel after refuelling.
They added: "It is normal practice to use Irish airspace to travel from Prestwick. On this occasion permission was denied. I am not able to say why."
But a source added: "It wasn't a safety concern, it was a moral one."
Four of the shipments were carried on Boeing 747 200s owned by Kalitta, who are based in Michigan.
They set off from Kelly US Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, for Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv.
Their cargo - bombs known as "bunker-busters" - were destined for Israel's assault in southern Lebanon and are the heaviest explosives in the US armoury.
One air traffic controller told the Sunday Mail: "We're also worried that the fire brigade did not know that the plane landing contained such a large amount of explosives.
"If it had gone up in flames in an accident, we'd have been none the wiser. It is a terrifying thought."
We contacted Kalitta at their HQ in Ypsilanti, Michigan, but they refused to comment. The Foreign Office said: "It appears the correct procedures were not followed. We are trying to find out why."
Costing £100,000 per warhead, the bunker-buster bomb was blamed for one of the conflict's worst attacks - a blitz on Beirut on July 20 which killed dozens of civilians and wiped out four nine-storey buildings.
Yesterday, Prestwick Airport said: "The airport is obliged to allow aircraft from any CAA-registered country to land here and we routinely handle passenger, freight and military aircraft.
"We are not necessarily aware of what cargo is being carried on flights in transit nor are we obliged to find out."
Despite outrage, the Government have said US planes carrying missiles to Israel can continue to refuel in Scotland.
On Wednesday, a US airforce Hercules plane was forced into a dramatic emergency landing at Prestwick after an engine failed.
The pilot landed safely but the craft was still grounded yesterday.
The airport refused to comment on whether it was carrying bombs.
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