10th May 2012 - Today sees the lighting of the Olympic torch. How, exactly, is it transported by air to the host country?

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It will travel in ceremonial lantern, secured in a cradle and fixed to a seat, aboard British Airways Airbus 319, BA2012. ---------------------------------------- London 2012: Olympic torch relay flame to fly to Culdrose ---------------------------------------- The flame for the London 2012 torch relay will arrive in the UK from Greece at Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose on the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall. It is due to land at the base, where Prince William did his helicopter training, on 18 May on a gold-liveried British Airways Airbus 319, BA2012. The flame for the 2012 Olympic Games will be kindled in Olympia on 10 May, before a short relay around Greece. The UK relay begins on 19 May at Land's End and ends in Stratford on 27 July. For the previous two torch relays, to Athens in 2004 and Beijing 2008, the Olympic flame arrived at commercial airports. But it will enter the UK at the search and rescue helicopter base before transferring to the most westerly point on England's mainland for the start of the 8,000 mile journey. In Greece, the flame will be lit from the sun's rays in an hour-long morning ceremony at the Temple of Hera. The flame will then be taken on an eight-day relay around Greece. Two of the torchbearers on the Greek leg will be "inspirational people" from the UK, London 2012 organisers Locog said. The flame is handed over to the organisers in the Panathenaic Stadium, Athens, on 17 May in an hour-long evening ceremony. The flame is allowed to be carried on a plane, subject to Civil Aviation Authority permission, as it is a "symbolic flame". It travels in a ceremonial lantern, secured in a cradle, fixed to a seat. The flame could burn in the lantern for up to 30 hours. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16832062 May 10 12, 1:11 AM