Last week I wrote about an American Airlines Paris-to-Miami flight which appears to have been a dry run. This has prompted a lot of email questions, the most interesting one being, has any foreign government ever acknowledged a dry run? The answer is yes — the Czech Republic.

In the fall of 2006, Czech security police revealed the case of an apparent dry run on a Czech commercial airplane traveling from Oslo, Norway into the Czech Capital of Prague. The Czech State Intelligence Agency, BIS, made public in its annual report that three “Egyptians [were] suspected of [taking part] in the preparation of a terrorist attack on a civilian aircraft.” Specific details in the official report were thin, but nonetheless revealing:

“The three men tried to break into the cockpit of a Czech Airlines plane during the OK 447 flight from Oslo [Norway] to Prague… When the plane landed at Prague Ruzyne airport, the foreigners were detained and escorted to Egypt.”

BIS spokesman Jan Subrt, provided the Norwegian newspaper, Aftenposten, with further details:

“The crew on board discovered the three Egyptians trying to open the door into the cockpit. When the stewards intervened they immediately gave up their attempts and gave the excuse that they were looking for a staff member because they wanted to buy chewing gum.”

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