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Flight from South Africa to Atlanta diverted for “technical specifications”

9 points| stevetodd | 4 years ago |reuters.com

8 comments

Seems like they lacked the fuel? I don't have a globe handy, but a quick glance at Google Maps suggests Boston is slightly closer to Johannesburg than Atlanta is.

jareklupinski|4 years ago

12,638 km - Distance from Johannesburg to Boston

13,558 km - Distance from Johannesburg to Atlanta

I had to look it up to believe it

azth|4 years ago

Why aren't flights from South Africa banned yet?

danielfoster|4 years ago

Why is this on HN? Flights divert to refuel all the time.

BabyJohn|4 years ago

In December 2019, a deadly breakout of novel coronavirus SARS‑CoV‑2 spread and was declared a global pandemic. Recently, the WHO declared one particular variant first discovered in South Africa as a "variant of concern", and the US imposed a loose "travel ban" on noncitizens from this country. This is one of the last flights out of South Africa before the ban is set to be enforced.

boardwaalk|4 years ago

Is “technical specifications” a normal way to put this? Seems odd to me, but I also don’t call my code “codes.”

mdtancsa|4 years ago

this is all starting to feel either like "The Cassandra Crossing" or "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street"... Probably the later :(

ragnot|4 years ago

Maybe a covert hand-delivered sample of some sorts?