Tony Blair's Plane Overshoots Runway in Miami/343 Passengers Aboard.

The Blairs, among the 343 passengers on the plane, were in Miami for a family vacation and planned to stay with Robin Gibb of the Bee-Gees, officials said.

According to the National Weather Service, thick clouds covered South Florida about the time Blair's plane was landing, and a light rain had fallen at the airport about two hours earlier.
"Nothing the pilots don't handle all the time," meteorologist Brad Diehl said. "The visibility was about 10 miles."

Steve Atkins, the deputy press secretary for the British Embassy in Washington, said it was not uncommon for Blair to travel by commercial airliner, but declined to comment further.

"We don't comment on the prime minister's private travel arrangements," Atkins said. "We don't comment on security arrangements."

-snip-

Blair receives U.S. Secret Service protection whenever he lands in the U.S., agency spokeswoman Kim Bruce said.

Passengers on board the plane told WSVN-TV in Miami that police and rescue vehicles quickly surrounded the aircraft.

"We just thought there must have been someone on board who shouldn't have been on board," Karen Queen of London said.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061227/ap_on_re_us/blair_rough_landing

Doesn't make sense to me. The leader of Great Britain flies commercials?

Odd that he could get away with it otherwise....since we are all on alerts about terrorists all the time....and Bush needs to travel with a extra plane filled with SS and armored vehicles...

an equivalent to Air Force 1.
I believe that to be true of Canada as well, though I could be wrong.


isn't that weird?

Apparently he flies commercial (first class) quite frequently

it is really enlightening as to how the British PM is treated as an average fellow. They cook their own food at 10 Downing, etc.

Since when do foreign heads of state (and technically, he's not even that - the Queen is) receive SS protection?

there`s a flight crew that`s in big trouble. they`ll be flying cargo jets from now on.....