The international Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has reportedly exonerated Israel for the Libyan airliner disaster that occurred Feb. 21 over the Sinai. According to a report in Friday’s “Daily Express,” in advance of the ICAO report’s official release date tomorrow, the civil aviation group stated that the Israeli pilots “complied with the accepted procedures” to warn the Libyan airliner pilot that he should land his craft, “pointed to the airfield where the airliner could have landed safely,” and fired harmlessly at the airliner. (See separate story on ICAO meeting tomorrow in Montreal.)
According to the Express story, the ICAO report “also exonerates the Israelis from the false charge that they had tampered with the black box of the Libyan aircraft.” Libyan and Egyptian officials charged after the tragedy that Israel had tampered with the plane’s recording mechanism to bring it in line with Israel’s report that the pilot had been given all acceptable warnings before firing on the plane.
MANY COUNTRIES WILL HAVE TO APOLOGIZE
The Express science editor, Chapman Pincher, commenting on the ICAO report, stated: “This report exonerates the Israelis to such an extent that many countries and organizations which criticized the Israelis for an unprovoked act of ‘barbarism’ will have to do some swift apologizing.” The Express story on the report provided the following information:
The weather forecast provided in Libya before takeoff was below standard. Unusually high winds in the Cairo area which put the plane off course were not even mentioned in the weather forecast. The beacon at Cairo was not working properly and the Cairo approach control surveillance radar was unserviceable. About 18 minutes after the pilot had deviated from his route and began to get lost he requested a radar fix from Cairo but never got it. He asked again and though his message was acknowledged, he was never given the fix.
About this time a shift change of the air traffic controllers at Cairo Airport was taking place. When the Cairo controllers eventually cleared the airliner to descend for landing, believing it was 15 miles away, the plane was actually crossing the Gulf of Suez in good visibility and entering Israeli-occupied Sinai some 100 miles away. When Cairo instructed it to descend to 4000 feet, it was 105 miles away and only 15 miles from an important Israeli defense base and military airfield. Even when the pilot saw the airfield he was still in touch with Cairo and was so convinced that he was near Cairo that he mistook Israeli Phantoms for Egyptian MIGs.
ISRAELIS COMPLIED WITH ACCEPTED PROCEDURE
The Israelis picked up the plane by radar before it crossed the Gulf of Suez. Phantoms with the Israeli Air Force Magen David clearly marked on them went up. Thus, they complied with the accepted procedure. The leading Israeli pilot rocked his Phantom’s wings which is an order for a suspected aircraft to land. The Libyan Boeing pilot did not comply and he was still talking to Cairo Airport about landing there. The Israelis repeatedly pointed to the airfield where the airliner could have landed safely. But the Boeing co-pilot, a Libyan, indicated that he wanted to fly straight ahead. The Israelis then fired tracer bullets harmlessly in front of the Boeing.
These were seen by both pilots of the Boeing. The Israelis then fired at the Libyan airliner’s starboard wing tip without doing serious damage. When the Boeing still failed to comply they fired at-its starboard wing root and this forced the plane to descend, but still under control. The pilot then tried to land in the desert and crashed. The map attached to the report not only confirms the Israeli version but shows that the plane was even further into Sinai. The report also exonerates the Israelis from the false charge that they had tampered with the black box of the Libyan aircraft.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
