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The story behind last week’s MEA Madrid-Beirut flight

The Greek authorities have denied the official Lebanese version of what happened during the flight last Wednesday

The story behind last week’s MEA Madrid-Beirut flight

Middle East Airlines company planes parked in the Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport. (Credit: AFP)

Error, negligence, incompetence. What really happened during last week’s Middle East Airlines Madrid-Beirut flight, whose captain was Abed al-Hout, son of MEA board of directors chairman Mohammad al-Hout?On Aug. 10, the MEA Airbus A321 passenger plane was approached by Greek fighter jets over Greece.The Greek authorities activated the “renegade” alert following a report from the NATO air traffic control center in Spain in order to intercept the civilian plane, which had taken off from Madrid bound for Beirut, and was not responding to radio calls.“Since the 9/11 attacks, most countries follow this procedure, and this alert is usually triggered when a hijacking or a serious technical problem is suspected,” explained Samir*, a former MEA pilot who spoke to L’Orient-Le Jour on condition of anonymity.For five days, there had been no...
Error, negligence, incompetence. What really happened during last week’s Middle East Airlines Madrid-Beirut flight, whose captain was Abed al-Hout, son of MEA board of directors chairman Mohammad al-Hout?On Aug. 10, the MEA Airbus A321 passenger plane was approached by Greek fighter jets over Greece.The Greek authorities activated the “renegade” alert following a report from the NATO air traffic control center in Spain in order to intercept the civilian plane, which had taken off from Madrid bound for Beirut, and was not responding to radio calls.“Since the 9/11 attacks, most countries follow this procedure, and this alert is usually triggered when a hijacking or a serious technical problem is suspected,” explained Samir*, a former MEA pilot who spoke to L’Orient-Le Jour on condition of anonymity.For five days, there had been...
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