“BUZZING” OF AIRLINER

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28013, 6 July 1956, Page 16

“BUZZING” OF AIRLINER

Greek Pilot To Be Disciplined (N Z Press Association —Cnrn/rlaht) (Rec. 8 n.m.) LONDON, July 4. Disciplinary action will be taken against the oilot of one Greek jet fighter which “buzzed" a British Viscount airliner near Athens last month.

Lord John Hope, Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, told the House of Lords this today when he gave details of a Greek Note to Britain sent in reply to a British protest over the interception of the Viscount by two Greek firhters.

Lord Hope said that according to the Greek Note the fighters were ordered to intercept the Viscount in accordance with a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation regulation.

Under this, interception was made if any aircraft flew outside regular ai r corridors, or was not expected, and if the aircraft’s nationality was not known.

But the Note recognised, he said, that one of the two Greek fighters had unnecessarily close to the airliner. Disciplinary measures would be taken against th° pilot responsible. Lord Hope said that regardless of the Greek pilot’s skill, he had endangered the lives of the passengers and crew of the airliner.

The Greek Note claimed that the detention of the crew of the British airliner and the inspection of it and tho crew’s baggage was justified by international regulations, and by Greek laws.