A BOEING 737 enters UK airspace posing as a Russian civilian airliner, crossing Europe and the Channel without arousing any suspicion. Once over British soil it heads for London, where it drops from its cruising altitude of 37,000ft to around 30,000ft before a nuclear device stored in the hold is detonated over the capital. This is the terrifying sequence of events that aviation chiefs have been warned to protect against at an annual airport security conference in London. Groups like Islamic State may lack the technology, know-how and finances to mount such an audacious attack. But nuclear powers such as North Korea have their sights firmly set on an attack of that scale and ferocity. According to Dr Sally Leivesley, a UK-based specialist in catastrophic and extreme risk, the scenario is a potential security risk to the West. She said terrorists and pariah states were using “new tactics on planes” and warned that there was little that could be done to detect a suspicious jet masquerading as a normal airliner.
Express 3rd Oct 2016 read more »