Lynx + crew captured in Libya - Comments

[Alpha Kilo One]

and it is a fact there is a 3 man crew onboard.

I guess there was also a lady onboard?

Ronald

[Gerard]

Lynx serial 277 seen sat at malta

"277" is confirmed to be the one involved. Seen on Lybian TV.......

[Glidepath]

consider it is pretty unbelievable that the civilian Haskoning employee was 'in true perill' and really needed to be 'saved', knowing that he - despite all chaos and confusion after the Lynx crew being arrested !- got to the embassy safely and back in Holland really soon.

so, How badly needed he to be rescued anyway?
How nice are the Lybians overthere? Can't be that evil can it? He could have been captured also but got out just fine.

[SquAdmin]

so, How badly needed he to be rescued anyway?

Exactly my thought too. Before the Navy would conduct a high risk operation like this, the situation would have to be very critical...

Or... (only speculating) did some people want to show off after the succesful British operation?

[aviodromefriend]

consider it is pretty unbelievable that the civilian Haskoning employee was 'in true perill' and really needed to be 'saved', knowing that he - despite all chaos and confusion after the Lynx crew being arrested !- got to the embassy safely and back in Holland really soon.

As far as my info goes, after the Lynx and crew being arrested, the fans of M.K. were very kind to the civilian and brought him to the embassy themselves.

According to today's Noordhollands Dagblad, the trouble was that initially only the Haskonig employee had to be evacuated, but at the beach another foreign man, which should have been unknown to him at that time joined him and tried to get out together with him. According to that newspaper the crew were confused by finding two instead of the expected one person, which gave the Libyans the opportunity to act as they did.

[Slijfie]

Never mind. Was just trolling.

[Propwash]

consider it is pretty unbelievable that the civilian Haskoning employee was 'in true perill' and really needed to be 'saved', knowing that he - despite all chaos and confusion after the Lynx crew being arrested !- got to the embassy safely and back in Holland really soon.

Spot on

Probably a member of the 'Bea' Bilderberg Club or 'good' old school boy from one or another upperclass politician.

If the Dutch wanna play Rambo, they better stick to the Ginkelse Heide and Airshow theatre only.

Libya - Netherlands: 3 - 0

[Kleintje Pils]

How about this thought: could the Haskoning employee have been an undercover agent which was unmasked?

[Propwash]

How about this thought: could the Haskoning employee have been an undercover agent which was unmasked?

I've tought this too, but the Libyans gave him freedom instead of detention.

BTW why did M.K. accept the Dutch request for not broadcasting .... on local TV and Al Jazeera, before wednesday?

[DJdeRidder]

Dumpert now has an audio file of a conversation between NRN277 and Maltese ATC, apparently 'proving' the helicopter visited Libya before on the same day. At 2:00 you can hear the female pilot saying they will not go back to Tripoli: KLIK

[S&B extra]

Did I read somewhere they shut down the rotor and or engine and went out of the helicopter on the beach"? Please tell me this is not true.

[Koen L]

Dumpert now has an audio file of a conversation between NRN277 and Maltese ATC, apparently 'proving' the helicopter visited Libya before on the same day. At 2:00 you can hear the female pilot saying they will not go back to Tripoli: KLIK

Don't think anyone says 'back'. They just ask if NRN277 is going to Tripoli or to the ship.

[Glidepath]

two days in a row on TV, mr. Klep, 'expert',..is speculating even more than some do on this forum.

In the Dutch translation of the Libyan news, the Lynx is called a 'gevechtshelikopter'. Well it is not an air taxi or HEMS machine is it? Why put 'salt on all snails'. knowing that the Libyan news reporter may not be in to military hard ware nomenclature. (like most Dutch reporter)

Dutch Defence is surprised by the Libyan news broadcast calling it a espionage mission. Well, I'm not gonna state 'I told you so', but that is so naive of the ministerial representatives. Better say nothing than such things.

The smart thing for the Libyans to do
is to get rid of the three Royal Netherlands Navy Lynx air crew and do so with flying colours, a full ceremony and of course with all possible media present, Al-jazeera, El-arabia, CNN, BBC world news, etc, and let then go home, with their helicopter, but not after a farewell hope to see you soon 's-Allah, goodbye kiss en many smiling people. Better Sooner than later. It is in their own interest, call it public relations.
That will win the hearts and minds in the west. After all, Khadaffi has been a friend to the west over the last years. That should not have to change because of what the idiots of some media and papers publish and broadcast.

Fighting agains the own populus, starvation, with deaths in the streets has been no reason apparently to get Zimbabwe, Somalia and several other nations a new respected government, and instate no-fly-zones and so on. (but hey, there's no oil there)

[orange]

The smart thing for the Libyans to do
is to get rid of the three Royal Netherlands Navy Lynx air crew and do so with flying colours, a full ceremony and of course with all possible media present, Al-jazeera, El-arabia, CNN, BBC world news, etc, and let then go home, with their helicopter, but not after a farewell hope to see you soon 's-Allah, goodbye kiss en many smiling people. Better Sooner than later. It is in their own interest, call it public relations.
That will win the hearts and minds in the west. After all, Khadaffi has been a friend to the west over the last years. That should not have to change because of what the idiots of some media and papers publish and broadcast.

You mean effectively giving the green light for all countries to fly in and out of Libya without permission? Why not exchange gift while we're at it?

Please allow me to recap what happened:
-1: A Dutch military helicopter flew into Libyan airspace and landed on Libyan territory without permission. This is against international laws, and could be considered a hostile act.
-2: Look at the various newsclips: the crew of three had: one machinegun, one Diemaco rifle and three Glock pistols. The commentary even mentioned 'handgrenades' although these aren't shown. It doesn't exactly look like they came in peace, does it?

If Khadaffi is considered 'a friend of the west over the last years', as you state above, why did we sneak in with a heavily armed military helicopter? Our government is always trying to follow the rules and be politically correct, and now they've burned their fingers.
We ask for permission to fly a KDC-10 to Libya, and do so without problems. We ask for permission to fly a C-130 to Libya, and do so without problems. Then we see the Brits flying in to Libyan (rebel controlled!!) territory and

I find the whole incident extremely embarrasing.

I know they won't be able to read it, but I hope the crew will be home safely very soon, and I wish them the best of luck. With this government, they're going to need it!

[aviodromefriend]

why did we sneak in with a heavily armed military helicopter?

Maybe because it should take too much time to unarm the machine? (in an, as it looks right now, QRA or SAR like kind of action, given the fact that there wasn't even time to prepare sufficiently with all kind of help and aircover being transported to scene from the Netherlands (as some have stated before)).

Maybe time to get the picture right from the start again: The ship (and as such also the on-board helicopter) had not been intended to go to Libya, and was prepared for the action it should have been involved in: fighting Somalian pirates in international waters, approved by the United Nations. This means it should be armed with the weapons needed for this purpose, as that lesson was learned the hard way in Srebrenica (and the (mostly very succesful) use of these very kind of weapons in that action has been widely made public by the MoD). So I don't get why people are surprised the Libyans found that kind of weapons, I would say the Navy (or maybe DHC) should have got in a very uncomfortable position if the chopper was found to not carry these weapons.