Posted on 08/17/2006 6:05:56 AM PDT by wolf78
Charter flight triggers terror alert at NATO base in Poland
Warsaw, Aug. 17 (AP): A planeload of Polish tourists got a fright when their Turkish pilot mistakenly landed at a NATO air base, sparking a terrorist alert, officials said on Thursday.
The pilot of the chartered plane disregarded instructions from air traffic controllers and touched down at the Krzesiny base near Poznan late Wednesday instead of at the city's Lawica airport, about 15 kilometers (10 miles) away.
Slawomir Orlowski, a spokesman for the military airport, said the unexpected landing triggered an anti-terror procedure, with troops scrambling to surround the aircraft.
Anti-terrorist police moved in to check the crew and the passengers, he said. Three hours later, the plane was allowed to fly to the civilian airport for regular arrival procedure.
``The people were under great stress because the crew was not able to communicate to them what was going on,'' Orlowski said. ``The pilot's English was not very good.''
(Excerpt) Read more at hindu.com ...
Mistakenly landed?
Whoa, straight out of Strategic Air Command! Gen. Curtis LeMay would be on that plane ready to sack the base commander.
Mistakenly landed at wrong airport. Happens from time to time, even with commercial flights in US. As an enroute controller, I've seen it a few times.
they are lucky they were not shot down on their way in
Hello?
You would have them shoot down a civilian plane for no reason other than the "rules"?
Now, I don't recall saying the plane should have been shot out of the sky (granted, LeMay would advocate that and with a nuclear tipped missile to boot) but I do hope it was met with interceptors and stopped on the active runway.
I suppose. I remember once flying out of Bulgaria when the pilot came on the PA system and welcomed us aboard a flight to Belgrade. A few minutes later he came on and said, "Well I guess we're really going to Budapest on this trip."
LOL! Thanx for the laugh!
The strange thing is: Lawica runway was lit up, while the runway at Kresiny wasn't.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.