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Hungarian gov't to investigate Israeli plane flyovers

2010-03-19 09:37 BJT

BUDAPEST, March 18 (Xinhua) -- The Hungarian government and the Defense Ministry have begun an investigation into two Israeli planes that flew over Budapest's Ferihegy Airport twice on Wednesday, as if to land, but then continued their flight, the daily Magyar Nemzet reported on Thursday.

Israeli Ambassador Aliza Bin-Noun said the flyovers had been routine and the craft, which belonged to the Israeli Air Force, had permission from the Hungarian National Transport Authority. The Foreign Ministry of Hungary was also aware of the action, she said, vehemently denying that the aircraft were spy planes. The two planes had conducted similar maneuvers at Varna Airport in Bulgaria,Bin-Noun added.

Hungarian Defense Ministry spokesman Istvan Bocskai said Defense Minister Imre Szekeres had initiated an investigation to determine who had granted the planes permission to conduct the " approach and flyover" maneuvers, adding that the Defense Ministry had no prior knowledge of the Israeli action.

Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai, meanwhile, demanded immediate information from the foreign, defense and transport ministers.

The Hungarian National Transport Authority issued a statement on Thursday afternoon saying that the two Israeli Air Force planes had been in compliance with Hungarian law and had observed all safety regulations. The request to conduct the flyover had been timely, the statement added, and had gone to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which had transferred it to the air traffic control section of the National Transport Authority, which in turn granted permission to conduct the exercise.

Security expert Georg Spoettle told local wire service MTI that the maneuvers looked like a test flight, not an espionage action because both planes were flying low and in broad daylight. He also noted that the El Al Israeli Airline flew between Tel Aviv and Budapest on a daily basis and could have been used for intelligence gathering if that had been the goal. Spoette is a German security expert who worked in Berlin with the German National Office of Criminal Investigations for over twenty years. He now lives in Hungary.

Spoettle noted that the two planes, whose photo appeared in Magyar Nemzet, were tactical craft, used to transport troops and observe foreign planes entering their home air space, not spy planes. He added his belief that the aircraft were undergoing technical tests, possibly testing to see how far they could travel without refueling.

Editor: Jin Lin | Source: Xinhua