NORAD scrambled F/A-18, F-16 and F-15 fighters and at least one KC-135 tanker to Calgary, Alberta, on Monday after bomb threats were made against three airliners en route from Germany due to land at the city’s airport. The threats were received about 2 p.m. but so far it has only been confirmed that one aircraft, a Condor Airlines A330, was directly involved in the incident. That plane landed safely and Canadian authorities also suggested that two others were involved, but they were not identified. NORAD stood down about five hours later and issued the following statement: “After Canadian authorities received reports of bomb threats aboard those flights, the aircraft landed without incident at Calgary International Airport after the threats were determined to be not credible.”
The incident lit up aviation forums when the aircraft from several different bases in the West, including the tanker, came from relatively nearby Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane. The F/A-18s came from Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake about 300 miles northeast of Calgary, but it wasn’t clear who sent the F-16s and F-15s. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is now investigating. Canada’s Defense Minister David McGuinty said the military operation showed the value of NORAD, a mutual defense pact between the U.S. and Canada. “What it indicates, I think, for us, what it should indicate for Canadians is that NORAD did its job and it did it very, very well. Fighter jets were scrambled. There was a bomb threat, I understand,” said McGuinty.
