Ryanair's statement is utterly nuts. No mention of their missing passengers:
"The @Ryanair flight took off just now from Minsk bound for Vilnius. Great news for everyone especially the families and friends of people onboard."
https://twitter.com/AdinaValean/status/1396513415007506432
"Everyone"??
The omissive wording is utterly revolting. While the Ryanair PR people were at it they could’ve taken it a small step forward and said that a few passengers decided to stay as they really enjoyed the sights.
No refunds for anyone...
Nothing can finish off a corporate announcement better than a Liability Avoidance and Risk Reduction statement :)
I haven't tried to find the actual flight path, but for a transport aircraft at cruise the "closest airport" would not be underneath the flight's position, but rather at some distance away corresponding to the computed distance to reach the surface in an idle power descent.¹
From 30,000+ feet I'd expect that value to lie around 60–80 miles, iirc.
/Acey
¹–ignoring in-flight fires, medical emergencies, etc., that might dictate an unusually steep descent profile.
Even with the benefit of the doubt, it looks very shady. You could probably argue that it's the closest airport within the airspace they're currently occupying (which was Belarus airspace at the time) but the whole Belarus narrative stinks.
What particularly stinks is the Ryanair response/reaction. I can only assume that Ryanair is being coy about the whole situation because they want to continue using Belarus airspace, but there might be more to it.
Unless it’s an inflight emergency pilots will normally follow the recommendations of ATC. “There is a report you have a bomb onboard and divert to Minsk where we have a bomb squad” would likely work.
Over any terrain with appreciable elevation differences, topographic features can easily rule out otherwise eligible airfields because you'll have to cross granite on the glide down.
/Acey
I left that off before but it begged mentioning since it's a question that asks for a real answer/confirmation if starting from jet cruise altitudes. If you are starting at FL410, you could easily head down a box canyon accidentally when the Alps, Pyrenees, Rockies, etc. are nearby.
They couldn't because the fighter jets forced them to land at Minsk.
>"This was a case of state-sponsored hijacking - state-sponsored piracy," Michael O'Leary told Newstalk radio.
>"It appears the intent of the authorities was to remove a journalist and his travelling companion. We believe there were some KGB (State Security Committee of the Republic of Belarus) agents offloaded at the airport as well,"