An American-built "Hercules" C-130 military transport plane of the Saudi Arabian Royal Air Force was forced to land at Ben Gurion Airport today after it entered Israeli air space near Rosh Hanikra on the Lebanese border while reportedly on a flight from Damascus to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The plane carried 31 passengers, including 25 Saudian officers and other military ranks and six civilians.
The crew consisting of a Saudian Air Force pilot, an American co-pilot, an American flight engineer, a Saudian flight engineer and an American supercargo, were under interrogation by Israeli security officials at an Israeli army officers’ club near the airport this afternoon. The American crew members on the Saudian plane were identified as Arthur Phillips, Larry Chandler and Charles Smith. The U.S. Consulate was informed of their presence and Consulate representatives are looking after them.
The passengers, including the military personnel, were given the "usual treatment" accorded passengers in transit, officials said. The giant aircraft was parked at a remote corner of the airport and later removed to a military airfield, Newsmen were not permitted to talk to the passengers or crew but press photographers were permitted to take pictures.
The plane landed at Ben Gurion at about 1 p.m. local time and was hardly noticed because of the heavy commercial traffic bringing visitors to Israel for the Passover-Easter holidays. It was learned later that the C-130 had been intercepted by Israel Air Force jets as it crossed the Israeli coastline over Rosh Hanikra on a course that would have taken it across Israel. The Saudian pilot complied with the international signals from the Israeli jets to follow them and land.
The plane was surrounded by regular and border police as soon as it halted on the tarmac at Ben Gurion Airport but was not immediately boarded because the pilot did not switch off his engines. The pilot reportedly explained later that he kept his engines running for a half hour to feed power to the radio for communications with the Ben Gurion control tower.
ATTRIBUTED TO NAVIGATIONAL ERROR
The plane, bearing the number 1610, was painted in camouflage colors With the green Saudian flag and the transport emblem–an eagle carrying a parcel–on one side and the inscription "Royal Saudian Airforce" on the other side in English and Arabic.
The plane’s entry into Israeli air space was reportedly attributed by the crew to a navigational error and an angry argument developed between the Saudian captain and the American co-pilot over who was responsible, reporters learned. The copilot said the plane was 35 minutes out of Damascus when it was surrounded by Israeli interceptors and ordered to land.
The incident recalled a similar episode on Feb. 21, 1973 when Israeli Air Force jets shot down a Libyan commercial airliner over Sinai after its pilot ignored their signals to land. Seventy persons aboard the plane were killed and 13 survived. The Libyan airliner had been on a flight from Tripoli to Cairo when it strayed into Israeli air space.
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