VASAviation ATC audio of Emirates 177 approaching Warsaw after a bomb threat, with the airport closing for an hour after its landing.
What the video covers
Written in our own words. It only describes what the video shows and says.This VASAviation video, published in April 2022, plays the radio traffic between Warsaw approach control and the crew of Emirates 177, a Boeing 777 on its way into Warsaw Chopin. The audio comes from LiveATC. It shows how a threat that reaches the airport from outside is passed on to a crew in flight, and how the controller has to fit the rest of the traffic around it.
An uncertain warning
The controller first tells the crew that the airport has received information that there might be hazardous material on board, and that actions on the ground can be expected. He is open about how little he knows: the information probably came from someone outside the airport, perhaps a phone call, and he is only passing on what the tower controller told him. The crew asks what kind of material is involved, hears that it is dangerous material, and says it will deal with it on the ground. The controller promises to pass on more details as soon as he gets them.
Closing the airport and sequencing traffic
Next the controller explains that the aerodrome will close for an hour after Emirates 177 lands. A Finnair flight is about 30 miles out, and if it lands after the Emirates jet it will have to wait another hour. The controller asks whether he can vector the Finnair flight in front, at the cost of two or three minutes of delay for the Emirates crew, who agree. Later he gives them traffic information on the Embraer they are giving way to. Other flights are told to slow down or stop their descent, and an SAS crew decides to hold with enough fuel for an hour before choosing between landing and its alternate.
Bomb on board and the plan after landing
Before the final approach the controller passes on the tower's plan: after landing the aircraft is to backtrack on the runway, vacate onto taxiway Charlie and wait there. He asks whether the crew has its own procedures, whether it will evacuate and what help it needs. The crew answers that it first needs to know what is on board and what the threat is before it can decide on an evacuation. The controller then puts it plainly: the duty officer has information that there is a bomb on board. The crew replies that the priority is to get on the ground and that the rest will be handled after landing. The controller asks for the number of people on board and the fuel remaining, clears the aircraft for the ILS approach to runway 11 and hands it over to the tower.
