By Jean Christou
THE CIVIL Aviation Department is looking into reports from the north that a plane which took off from Larnaca almost collided with a Turkish Cypriot airliner leaving occupied Tymbou airport.
According to the Turkish Cypriot papers, the incident took place on Thursday when a `Cyprus Turkish Airlines’ flight “just missed” colliding with a Swedish passenger plane taking off from Larnaca.
The papers said the Greek Cypriot air traffic controller had instructed the Swedish plane to fly at the same altitude – 31,000 feet – as the Turkish Cypriot flight.
“A disaster at an altitude of 31,000 feet in which 500 passengers on the two planes might have lost their lives, was averted by the traffic controller at Ercan (occupied Tymbou) who, perceiving the danger just in time, instructed the Turkish Cypriot plane to turn right,” the papers said.
They claim the Greek Cypriot controller first tried to deny his responsibility for the alleged near miss, “but confronted with his mistake, he admitted his error and apologised.” The reports go on to claim the Greek Cypriot was later fired.
“We are investigating these reports,” said Civil Aviation official Milton Georgiades yesterday. “They seem to have a good imagination. We don’t even know if anything has happened. We have no complaints from any airline and nobody has been fired.”
He added if something had happened Civil Aviation would know about it.
Georgiades said under usual circumstances an air-miss means dropping below the allowed distances between aircraft. “To a layman this is almost a collision but air misses happen at least twice a day all over the world,” he said.
He also accused the Turkish side of hypocrisy.
“In the past days our FIR (Flight Information Region) was full of Turkish aircraft,” he said. “If their violations are not considered dangerous, I don’t know what is.”
Georgiades was referring to dozens of violations by Turkish warplanes during the Nikiforos exercises. The Turkish F-16s twice came within 100 metres of a Greek C-130 Hercules plane carrying Greek Defence Minister Akis Tzohatzopoulos to and from the island.
