Pilot’s fast thinking saves lives
An Olympic Airlines (OA) flight transporting 116 passengers narrowly avoided colliding with two fighter planes near Thessaloniki yesterday when the pilot steered the aircraft higher to avoid a crash, authorities said. OA said the Dusseldorf-bound flight that had taken off from Athens was about 70 nautical miles south of Thessaloniki at an altitude of 16,000 feet when the pilot received a collision avoidance alert. The pilot realized the danger and immediately guided the aircraft to a higher altitude as is foreseen in such circumstances, OA said. The sudden maneuver left one air stewardess with slight injuries while two passengers where treated for shock. The Defense Ministry was tight-lipped over the incident. «We are investigating to find out what exactly happened,» said Defense Minister Evangelos Meimarakis. Due to cloudy weather, no one aboard the plane could determine the identity of the fighter jets that had approached. After eventually landing in Thessaloniki, the plane took off for Germany with an hour’s delay.
