Hungary: U.S. Military Violated Airspace

guardian ^ | 3/1/03

[knak]

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) - U.S. military aircraft violated Hungarian sovereignty last month by using the country's airspace for unauthorized purposes, the defense minister said Saturday.

The incident occurred Feb. 20 when six helicopters and a tanker aircraft belonging to the U.S. armed forces flew over Hungary on their way to a military base in Romania, Defense Minister Ferenc Juhasz said at a meeting of parliament's defense committee.

Hungary had only permitted the United States to use its airspace in connection with the Enduring Freedom operation in Afghanistan. But the Feb. 20 flights were for other, unspecified purposes.

Juhasz said the United States informed him Friday afternoon that a mix-up had occurred and the seven aircraft in question had not flown to Afghanistan.

``The United States apologized for the incident,'' Juhasz said.

The government sent a ``strongly worded'' reply asking U.S. authorities to avoid similar mistakes in the future, Juhasz said.

[Bismark]

This was no big deal, the U.S. made a simple error and didn't get prior clearance to do a flyover. Hungary is a good ally and friend which always gives us permission to do such overflights, but as an independent country they want to be asked. This is reasonable.

[LonghornFreeper]

Fair enough, I posted my reply without having read your post about it being a joke.