Fighter jets scrambled to bring private aircraft into Stansted
Flights in and out of Stansted were temporarily suspended last night after two fighter jets were scrambled to accompany a private jet which had lost contact with air traffic control.
The military jets were deployed to accompany the US-registered Gulfstream IV jet, with three people on board.
Essex police said all three were spoken to on landing and it was established that everything was in order.
A spokesman for Stansted said flights were only disrupted for around 15 minutes and then flight operations were soon back to normal.
A Ryanair flight from Alicante was diverted to Luton.
The incident caused concern among residents in local towns who heard a loud noise and reported that their windows had rattled.
Some turned to Twitter, saying they had heard an explosion and had seen the fighter jets.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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