Typhoon Fighter Jets flying overhead (Olympics) I'm a great big wuss...

[WorraLiberty]

Oh I know I'm being unreasonable really but every time I hear the deafening sound of RAF fighter jets flying overhead...like they were 10 minutes ago (which they only seem to do at night??) it scares the beejayzus out of me

I live less than 10 mins on a train from the Olympic Stadium and worry that if they have to shoot anything out of the sky...they're going to do it over my house?!?

I admit to laughing when I read they're going to store surface-to-air missiles on the roof of a block of council flats near the stadium...but it's not funny really!

Well ok it was a bit funny cos I know the block of flats they mean and all I can say is they're going to need to bolt them down, or they'll find they've been nicked and replaced with a block of bricks

Anyway, the thought of a terrorist attack (God forbid) is a very worrying one...whether it's in the sky or on the buses/trains.

And hearing the jets flying overhead just makes it seem all the more real in a way.

Like I said...I'm a wuss

Officially there is no serious threat! Personally I think there is no serious threat, I think this is to put off anyone wanting to distupt the olympics and to scare joe public, so that joe public can be opressed by stealth and fear!

I don't know to be honest Lady

I think there is a fairly serious threat but I think if the worst happened it would be on a packed train or bus

Jets used my old house as a landmark on the way out to sea for 'manouevres' - it was bright red - damn sonic boom made me jump out my skin every time!
They used to pass so low over the chimney you could've counted the rivets on the undercarriage!

I think the more likely threat to the olympics that scares the government, is a load of looters and rioters and the government and police being showed up again infront of the rest of the world!

I can't imagine riot starting Lol!

That's what the Euro Footy is for

Since the end of the IRA, London has had ONE terrorist attack, ONE attack, it was terrible. It was on an average day, no special day, it was linked up the olympics as the day before happened to be the day there was an anouncement that London would get the olympics, we may not have gotten the olympics, and that London attack had been planned long before the date was chosen to announce the winner of the olympic bid!

We saw two this afternoon.

Im just scared if they had to shoot something down it would all land on me!

Amber I'm going to send DH to check no-one's painted a red X on my roof

We hear the Chinooks a lot too. And the police helicopter (actually called a not-not in our house!) is bloody annoying. Although, living so close to HM Belmarsh, that always worries me!

TBH, I think the powers that be, have to put all these things in place, even if a lot of people think it's OTT. Can you imagine the outcry, if something did happen and they'd done nothing?

What frightens me is, if they were to shoot an enemy plane out of the sky, the bits are going to come down somewhere. Obviously if some maniac hi-jacked a plane they would be planning to crash it somewhere, but as far as the people on the ground are concerned, it makes no ruddy difference whether it's the RAF or a terrorist outfit or a UK ground-to-air missile. You are still dead.

(I got a ride in a Chinook once. Was really excited. But the vibrations gave me such a blinding migraine I couldn't think about anything else.)

True edam that's the kind of 'unreasonable' thought that's in my head.

If a plane is heading towards the Stadium...they're going to wan to shoot it out of the sky before it gets there.

In other words in the surrounding my area.

That shot down plane wouldn't be over London, as there is going to be a no fly zone of 30 miles around London during the olympics and the idea is that any plane will be shot down before it gets here! I believe there will be VIP flights going to RAF Northolt and scheduled flights to Heathrow.

Along with going supersonic the Typhoons have permission to shoot down planes off course with pasengers, ie joe public in them.

If you are scared of being shot down and hijackers then don't fly during the olympics.

There was a plane attack, a tube and bus attack, if there is going to be an attack it will be something different this time, probably by car or foot.

I live right on the border of East London and Essex

Now do you see why I'm concerned?

I sold a flat literally next door to Greenwich Park 8 months ago - the security base was going to be within eyesight from my bedroom. I moved all of 2 miles away. I'm absolutely certain security in London is going to be outstanding - when I heard, what I now know, were typhoons this afternoon, and not my next door neighbours house collapsing I'm even more certain that London will be completely safe. I'm more upset by the construction site Greenwich Park has become.

That's what concerns me edwin

I'd feel more secure if I budged up sideways into London a bit more than being sat here on the boarder

I live in North-East London and I often see Chinooks. We also have police helicopters constantly passing over (as they're going back to base) and I too saw the fighter jets today. They were doing a mock up of an air terrorist attack.

Edwinbear - they're having the Equestrian part of the Olympics in Greenwich Park aren't they? I was there last week and you have to admit, its going to look AMAZING to all those watching all over the world. I love Greenwich. Must go and revisit the Cutty Sark.

For the Olympics, much of this is security theatre not actual security.

If an threat has penetrated earlier defensive measures and reached London, then the differences between it crashing deliberately into an Olympic site and the damage from it being shot down and landing anywhere are slight in terms of casualities, impact on Games etc.

So if you are very close to the Olympic park, OP, you may well be very safe. All the real measures are outside London and aimed at preventing anyone unauthorised reaching the skies over city at all.

You should live where I live. I am a couple miles from a Typhoon base and they fly over several times a day. Some days they seem to have a lot of fun throwing them around. You get used to it

We get the Red Arrows a lot too and sometimes the Battle of Britain memorial flight use the base so we get to see them which is great :)

YABU
I grew up in Thetford, Worra, and so I am used to aircraft, as at that time there were USAF as well as RAF bases surrounding the town. I met DH when he was stationed at one and we lived on RAF camps for years. It wsn't the taking off and landing that was the noisiest, it was the ground running of the engines. It went on for bloody hours.
DH still works on jets and we live near where they developed the typhoon so have heard it in the skies for many years as they practised flying them.
We also get the Red Arrows who use the local airport for many displays. I love watching them coming in to land.

I used to love staying with my friend in Thetford for the very same reason insancerre....her brother used to work at the army base and I became addicted to the freeze dried strawberries and cream from the survival packs

We see them quite often here in the Highlands.
They fly scarily low sometimes, they always just seem to skim the tops of the mountains.

Im not convinced that being in London means we wouldnt be at risk, yesterday they didnt just zoom over my house, they were going back and forth round and round, if thats a mock up of what they would do under an attack then they were having a dog fight over my house [SE london]

There was a plane attack, a tube and bus attack, if there is going to be an attack it will be something different this time, probably by car or foot

Yes I was saying that to my son, I think if anything happens thats the sort of thing it would be.