British Airways airplane
צילום: רויטרס
Drama in the skies
Air Force fighter jets accompany British Airways plane after connection with pilot lost
TEL AVIV - A British Airways Boeing 777 aircraft carrying 195 passengers was forced into an emergency landing at Ben-Gurion International Airport after the connection with the pilot was lost during flight.
The drama began at 3 p.m. after Israeli officials received word that radio communications with the airplane are flawed and it failed to make contact over Europe as required.
Authorities promptly decided to prepare for any eventuality and dispatched fighter jets to meet the aircraft.
Officials decide not to take any chances
The communication malfunction was fixed by the time the plane reached Cyprus and the pilot identified himself as a Brit, but officials decided not to take any chances and continued following emergency procedures.
Once it entered Israel's airspace, the civilian aircraft was accompanied by the Air Force jets, according to procedures. After some tense moments, the plane landed safely and officials discovered the problem indeed stemmed from a radio malfunction.
Last week, a Turkish charter flight was also preparing to perform an emergency landing in Israel, following what appeared to be a serious malfunction, but that case also ended without incident following a nighttime drama at Ben-Gurion airport.
