US Denies French Fighters Emergency Landing Rights
By DAVE LINDORFF
http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff06072005.html
Talk about fair-weather friends!
When nine French fighter jets and a weather plane from a French carrier taking part in a joint exercise with Canadian Naval forces in the Atlantic off New Jersey ran perilously low on fuel last Friday because of a freak storm that prevented them from returning to their ship, they figured, no problem. They weren't too far from the U.S. mainland, and so they could just land at McGuire AF Base in southern New Jersey.
No dice, the Francophobe U.S. military told them. According to a State Department source, quoted in the Philadelphia Inquirer, they were denied landing rights at the facility.
Faced with the choice of ditching their planes or finding an alternative landing site, the French pilots, with the help of frantic State Department and Federal Aviation Administration officers, managed to arrange landing permission at the commercial airfield in Atlantic City, though this necessitated delaying and rerouting several commercial flights because of the number of planes that were coming in at once.
No national American media mentioned this stunning--and potentially life-threatening--breach of basic air etiquette by the U.S. military. And not for lack of knowing about it: many news organizations covered the whole thing as a humor item, focusing on the French pilots spending a night in the debauchery of America's East Coast Vegas
Even the Inquirer, which did report on the incident with at least a modicum of seriousness, failed to go to the Pentagon and ask the obvious question: Why were ten planes from a European ally denied emergency landing rights at a fully equipped and prepared U.S. Air Force base when they were in danger of crashing from lack of fuel? (I did make that call, and was referred to the media relations office at McGuire, where a spokeswoman denied that the French planes had been turned away-a direct contradiction of the story out of the State Department. She had no answer when asked whether the French pilots had requested permission to land at the airbase.)
It boggles the mind to think that this nail-biting incident could have been the result of Pentagon pique at France for having refused to go along with the Bush Iraq War plan, but one is hard-pressed to come up with an alternative explanation.
Even Soviet planes, at the height of the Cold War, weren't turned away in emergencies.
And this was an ally.
At least the people of Atlantic City were gracious hosts to the plucky French pilots, reportedly offering them meals and hotel rooms.
------------
From the AP and far less biased... no link though...
10 French fighter jets forced to land in Atlantic City, N.J.
6/3/2005, 7:53 a.m. ET
The Associated Press
POMONA, N.J. (AP) — Ten French fighter jets were forced to land at Atlantic City International Airport after weather problems prevented them from returning to their aircraft carrier in the Atlantic Ocean off the New Jersey coast, authorities said Friday.
One of the jets was apparently disabled, and the U.S. State Department was contacted by French officials after one of the pilots tried to buy fuel and couldn't because he didn't have the available funds on his credit card, Philadelphia television station WPVI-TV reported.
"I think they were all part of a squadron that was in formation," said Jim Peters, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration's eastern region.
The planes, which were scheduled to perform Saturday at an air show at McGuire Air Force Base in Burlington County, were conducting military exercises with the Canadian military in international waters when they were forced to land about 3:45 p.m. Thursday, apparently because of poor visibility and high winds.
"We brought them in and parked them overnight," said Peters. "Our role ended there."
A group of French marines was being dispatched to the airport to guard the planes. According to WPVI, officials from the French embassy and translators were also expected to arrive at the airport to assist the pilots.
Peters referred inquiries about that to the U.S. State Department.
Atlantic City International Airport officials did not immediately respond to inquiries Friday. A man who answered the telephone at its airport operations desk said he could not release information.
By DAVE LINDORFF
http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff06072005.html
Talk about fair-weather friends!
When nine French fighter jets and a weather plane from a French carrier taking part in a joint exercise with Canadian Naval forces in the Atlantic off New Jersey ran perilously low on fuel last Friday because of a freak storm that prevented them from returning to their ship, they figured, no problem. They weren't too far from the U.S. mainland, and so they could just land at McGuire AF Base in southern New Jersey.
No dice, the Francophobe U.S. military told them. According to a State Department source, quoted in the Philadelphia Inquirer, they were denied landing rights at the facility.
Faced with the choice of ditching their planes or finding an alternative landing site, the French pilots, with the help of frantic State Department and Federal Aviation Administration officers, managed to arrange landing permission at the commercial airfield in Atlantic City, though this necessitated delaying and rerouting several commercial flights because of the number of planes that were coming in at once.
No national American media mentioned this stunning--and potentially life-threatening--breach of basic air etiquette by the U.S. military. And not for lack of knowing about it: many news organizations covered the whole thing as a humor item, focusing on the French pilots spending a night in the debauchery of America's East Coast Vegas
Even the Inquirer, which did report on the incident with at least a modicum of seriousness, failed to go to the Pentagon and ask the obvious question: Why were ten planes from a European ally denied emergency landing rights at a fully equipped and prepared U.S. Air Force base when they were in danger of crashing from lack of fuel? (I did make that call, and was referred to the media relations office at McGuire, where a spokeswoman denied that the French planes had been turned away-a direct contradiction of the story out of the State Department. She had no answer when asked whether the French pilots had requested permission to land at the airbase.)
It boggles the mind to think that this nail-biting incident could have been the result of Pentagon pique at France for having refused to go along with the Bush Iraq War plan, but one is hard-pressed to come up with an alternative explanation.
Even Soviet planes, at the height of the Cold War, weren't turned away in emergencies.
And this was an ally.
At least the people of Atlantic City were gracious hosts to the plucky French pilots, reportedly offering them meals and hotel rooms.
------------
From the AP and far less biased... no link though...
10 French fighter jets forced to land in Atlantic City, N.J.
6/3/2005, 7:53 a.m. ET
The Associated Press
POMONA, N.J. (AP) — Ten French fighter jets were forced to land at Atlantic City International Airport after weather problems prevented them from returning to their aircraft carrier in the Atlantic Ocean off the New Jersey coast, authorities said Friday.
One of the jets was apparently disabled, and the U.S. State Department was contacted by French officials after one of the pilots tried to buy fuel and couldn't because he didn't have the available funds on his credit card, Philadelphia television station WPVI-TV reported.
"I think they were all part of a squadron that was in formation," said Jim Peters, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration's eastern region.
The planes, which were scheduled to perform Saturday at an air show at McGuire Air Force Base in Burlington County, were conducting military exercises with the Canadian military in international waters when they were forced to land about 3:45 p.m. Thursday, apparently because of poor visibility and high winds.
"We brought them in and parked them overnight," said Peters. "Our role ended there."
A group of French marines was being dispatched to the airport to guard the planes. According to WPVI, officials from the French embassy and translators were also expected to arrive at the airport to assist the pilots.
Peters referred inquiries about that to the U.S. State Department.
Atlantic City International Airport officials did not immediately respond to inquiries Friday. A man who answered the telephone at its airport operations desk said he could not release information.
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