I read that a few times and thought it odd, and went to the great circle mapper to check it out, and then I noticed it said the flight *landed* 6 hours after leaving London, not turned back 6 hours after leaving. I haven't looked up the scheduled time of the flight, but based on mileage I guess it's about 8.5 or 9 hours. If they decided to divert 3.5 or 4 hours into the flight, the closest alternates appear to be KEF, Gander, or the Azores. The last is unsuitable, and perhaps KEF was picked over Gander since it is also a U.S. military base. From that midpoint, it would be about 2 or 2.5 hours back to KEF, thus about a 6-hour flight. It is also a possibility that they didn't want to divert to the U.S. proper as a security issue as the threat was specifically against the U.S. and Americans. -- Michael C. Berch mcb@postmodern.com On Sunday, January 20, 2002, at 02:22 AM, Michael A. Burris wrote: > AIRLINE: > > Thank God it was nothing more than a hoax. But the way this press > release > reads, this flight seemed to turn back six hours after it took off. I > don't > understand the logic? Why not divert to a US airport this close to the > US? Did they get this right? > > Mike Burris > Cambridge, Mass