French plane diverted after Russia closes airspace

[Bosonic]

Source: AP

BERLIN (AP) -- Air France says a plane carrying 495 passengers and 22 crew was diverted on its way from Shanghai to Paris after Russia announced at short notice that part of its airspace was closed for a military exercise.

The company said flight AF111 was forced to land in Hamburg, Germany, early Wednesday to refuel because the plane had too little fuel on board to complete the flight following its detour.

Hamburg Airport confirmed that the plane landed shortly after 6 a.m. (0500 GMT) and was able to take off for Paris again after an hour and a half.

It wasn't immediately clear if Russia's military exercise was linked to the increased troop activity on its western border with Ukraine.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_GERMANY_RUSSIA_PLANE_DIVERTED?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[Evasporque]

1. Putin is rearing his head again....nt

[bigdarryl]

2. Russia is conducting a lot of military exercises

What are they up to?

[jakeXT]

5. They are probably watching ours in Bulgaria

Russian reconnaissance flights test Bulgaria’s Black Sea airspace – report

There has been a dramatic increase in the number of reconnaisance flights by Russian military aircraft close to Bulgarian airspace at the Black Sea coast since the beginning of 2014, daily Sega said on March 25, citing Defence Ministry sources.

Bulgarian air force Soviet-made MiG-29s scramble two to 10 times a week to intercept the Russian reconnaisance flights and keep them from entering Bulgarian airspace, the report said.

http://sofiaglobe.com/2014/03/25/russian-reconnaissance-flights-test-bulgarias-black-sea-airspace-report/

NOVO SELO TRAINING AREA, Bulgaria -- Soldiers with U.S. Army Europe and the Bulgarian Land Forces kicked off Saber Guardian 2014 at a ceremony here, Mar. 21, 2014.

Saber Guardian 2014 is a multinational training exercise designed to reinforce U.S. Army Europe's commitment to increasing regional flexibility, preserving and enhancing NATO interoperability, and facilitating multinational training.

...

Saber Guardian 2014, scheduled for Mar. 21 through Apr. 3, involves approximately 700 military personnel from twelve participating nations including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine, Turkey and the U.S.; as well as representatives from NATO.

http://www.army.mil/article/122342/

[pampango]

16. "700 military personnel from twelve participating nations ..."

I doubt the Russians are too worried.

[dembotoz]

3. well it turned out ok

russian showing itself to be not a fit partner

[DFW]

4. Soviet games

In the old days, when I used to go to the Far East, to get there we had to fly from Europe to Anchorage, land, refuel, and then continue on to to Asia flying east of Kamchatka. For those old enough to remember, this is the route taken by the Korean airliner the Soviets shot down in the early 80s. The Soviets didn't allow 747s to land in Moscow. It was purely for propaganda reasons, as they didn't want their own people to see the big 747s, next to which their ИЛ-62 (Ilyushin-62--one VERY scary plane to fly, as I found out), looked pretty flimsy (which they were!).

This wasn't the same game, and the reason probably WAS military (though not "military exercises&quot , but the Soviets were always very weird about their air space. We are, too, of course, especially after 9/11, but the Russians were always like that, even decades before 9/11.

[cosmicone]

8. Actually, I have flown the IL-96 and it could kick 747's ass

I flew it from San Francisco to Moscow non-stop.

It had an open span which is quite a feat in structural engineering -- both Boeing and Airbus use galleys ever few rows for structural support but the IL96's galleys were on the side and one could see all the way to the back and front, giving it a museum experience. The seats and food were crappy though.

The other thing I remember is that the plane had so much power that after takeoff, it made a steep ascent all the way to the cruising altitude without having to level-off and do the ascent in stages like Boeing or Airbus.

What I heard (unverified rumor) is that the Russian mafia was paid $1 billion by Boeing to prevent that plane from becoming commercial after the opening of the Russian economy. That plane would have cost half that of a 747 and carried 15% more passengers.

[DFW]

10. Never flew a 96

Just their pilfered version of the British VC-10, which was the IL-62. The thing shuddered like an amusement park ride, stalled during take-off, finally could take off on the second attempt, but had to turn around and go back to Martí after about 90 minutes due to what the crew called a "problem with the navigation," except that they were letting out fuel the whole way, easily visible from the wingtips. A commercial pilot from Québec was seated next to me, and he said it was time to get nervous. When we landed back at Martí, I asked how much time they would need to finally make the plane airworthy. The ground staff told me we were lucky to have made it back alive, and we had to wait until another plane was available.

[uncommonlink]

11. Back in the Soviet days,

Aeroflot was commonly called Aeroplop because of the frequent hard landings or crashes of Soviet commercial airliners.

[DFW]

12. I hear that pilots drinking vodka while on duty can cause that n/t

[uncommonlink]

13. That was the overwhelming problem,

drunk flight crews.
Their airframes weren't that bad, but their flight crews couldn't stay off the sauce.

[EX500rider]

15. I was on Air Uzbekistan on a short in country hop in '05..

...Tashkent to Karshi ...scariest thing ever.. on a Yak-40 that had seen better days...(maybe) The 70 year old looking pilot and 16 old looking co-pilot DID come out of the bar....we were told no pictures of the airport or plane were allowed as it was a military AF also.....I wonder why till we walked out on the tarmac to the rear boarding ladder...the right landing gear tire was completely bald, showing cord all across the entire surface...this on a 3 engine jet.....boy I did not wanna get on that thing....seat belts were non-existent and the in-flight beverage choices were tomato juice or prune juice. It was winter and everybody had on smelly fur hats and jackets. I did see the Uzbek Air Force planes on the taxi out though, they were literally BI-PLANES!! (An-2's I think)

[seveneyes]

6. Understandable

Did the G7 expect Russia to take being snubbed lightly?

[pampango]

17. The Russians just laughed about that. Called the G7 an "informal club". n/t

[leftyohiolib]

7. france was part of kicking russia out of the g8 , now the g7

[cosmicone]

9. All the far eastern flights of European carriers

will cost them more in fuel -- the fuel they buy from Russia.

[leftyohiolib]

14. time to find a new supplier