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Two airplanes make emergency landings in Beirut

22 July 2010

BEIRUT: A Gulf Air plane was forced to make an unexpected landing at the Rafik Hariri International Airport (RHIA) on Tuesday, shortly after a Royal Jordanian Airlines plane suffered a malfunction when a bird hit its tail.

Public Works and Transportation Minister Ghazi Aridi told the Arabic daily An-Nahar that a Gulf Air aircraft had been flying above Cyprus when one of its windows cracked at an altitude of 36,000 feet. “Its pilot contacted the surveillance tower at the RHIA for permission to land and his request was granted,” he said.

A source at the airport said the plane was an Airbus 319 and was flying from Athens to Manama with 101 passengers on board. “It landed in Beirut safely at 9:30 pm,” it said.

However, several media outlets reported on Wednesday that “stray bullet” from clashes between rival families in the Beirut suburb of Ouzai were behind the emergency landing of the Gulf Air jet.

One person was killed and five others were wounded in Ouzai Tuesday night, after a family feud escalated into gunfight.

The state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported that a dispute between the families of Assaf and Siblini escalated into gunfire exchange. One person was killed because of the clash and five others were wounded.

The NNA said the Lebanese Army soon arrived at the scene and cordoned off the area.

On Wednesday, the Civil Aviation Department at the RHIA dismissed reports that the Gulf Air jet had been struck by a stray bullet, instead explaining that one of the cockpit windows had cracked due to a technical malfunction, forcing the plane to make the emergency landing.

“All flights passing over Lebanon’s airspace, including this flight, take the international route that passes through Cyprus, northern Lebanon, then northern Syria, and therefore, planes do not even fly over Beirut,” it said in a statement.

“Planes usually fly at very high altitudes, and the pilot requested to land in Beirut’s airport while the jet was still outside Lebanese airspace,” the Civil Aviation Department added.

In the other incident, the pilot of a Royal Jordanian Airlines plane contacted the RHIA at about 9 pm, saying a bird had hit the aircraft’s tail as it was landing in Beirut.

According to the same source, the plane suffered a malfunction because of the incident and measures were taken to guarantee people’s safety.

Last week, the body of a 20-year-old was found inside the wheel bay of an airliner landing in Saudi Arabia. The body was discovered by maintenance workers in Riyadh after the Airbus 320 from the Saudi Nasair company flew in from Beirut. The young man had somehow managed to grab hold of a wheel of the jet in Beirut without the control tower noticing before the plane took off.

The accident has sparked widespread outrage over airport security; it also prompted the head of the Beirut’s airport security to submit his resignation. – The Daily Star

© Copyright The Daily Star 2010.