Illegal radio endagers flights

2007-07-31 21:49

Slobodan Lekic

Brussels - Broadcasts from illegal radio stations near Israel's main international airport are jeopardising flight safety by jamming communications between pilots and air traffic controllers, an international pilots' association said on Tuesday.

"In recent months the situation has worsened with the pirate transmissions frequently blocking air-to-ground communications," said a statement released by the London-based International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations.

Ifalpa's statement came at the peak travel period for Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport, with Israeli families travelling overseas and foreign tourists flocking to the country.

During the summer, there are about 250 daily flights into and from Ben Gurion airport, according to the Israel Airports Authority.

In the statement, Ifalpa's regional representative Captain Zvi Rosenberg said that in recent weeks the problem has become so severe that the airport had to cease operations for hours at time due to pirate radio broadcasts.

It said pilots' and flight controllers' groups in Israel had complained to the government, but nothing had been done so far, the statement said.

"Vital communications may be lost this way," said Gideon Ewers, a spokesperson for the 105 000-member federation.

Flights briefly stopped

The Ifalpa did not say which pirate stations were interfering with the airport's frequencies.

In the past, pirate stations in Israel - mostly from ultra-Orthodox Jewish movements - and in Ramallah on the West Bank, have blocked out airline transmissions.

In Israel, an official at the Airports Authority confirmed the airport had to briefly stop flights four times in the past month because of pirate frequency interference, but referred all questions on the matter to the Communications Ministry.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorised to discuss the problem with the press.

Israel's Communications Ministry has inspectors responsible for combating the problem and seizes hundreds of illegal transmitters a year, ministry spokesperson Yechiel Shavi said, but added that the light sentences handed down by courts did not deter potential offenders.

- AP