Aliens On Earth.com Resources for those who are stranded here UFOs | Paranormal | Area 51 People | Places | Random Top 100 | What's New Catalog | New Books Search... for keyword(s)   in Page Titles in Book Title/Author in Contents of Pages ---other searches--- Metacrawler Yahoo FAST Search Google Altavista Dogpile Inference Find Northern Light IWon.com MSN Search Las Vegas Sun Our Bookstore is OPEN Mothership -> UFO -> Updates -> 1997 -> Feb -> Here

From: werd@interlog.com (Drew Williamson)
Date: Mon, 10 Feb 1997 12:44:49 -0500 (EST)
Fwd Date: Tue, 11 Feb 1997 02:05:45 -0500
Subject: Close encounters of the U.S.A.F. kind

There was much discussion a few weeks back on aircraft having near misses.
Perhaps this article might answer some of them.

This story was covered by CNN too.

Drew
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Page A20 of THE TORONTO STAR Saturday February 8, 1997

Fighter jets, airliners in 2 close encounters

Incidents prompt military flight suspension

        WASHINGTON (AP) - Four National Guard fighter jets screamed past a
civilian airliner off the coast of Maryland yesterday, the second harrowing
incident involving Guard F-16s and airliners in the area in three days.

        The U.S. Air Force quickly suspended all its flights in restricted
areas along the East Coast for a review of rules and operating procedures.

        At the same time, the Federal Aviation Administration told
controllers in Florida, Washington and New York and military controllers in
Virginia to review procedures for operations in and around East Coast
military areas.

        The American Eagle turboprop took no special action in yesterday's
incident, and no one was hurt.

         However, two days earlier the pilot of a Nations Air Boeing 727
carrying 77 passengers and seven crew members from San Juan, Puerto Rico to
New York had to dive into evasive manoeuvres. Two flight attendants and a
passenger were thrown to the cabin floor.

         In that incident, off New Jersey's coast, a civilian controller
following the planes repeatedly expressed concern and asked military
controllers to get the Guard plane closest to the 727 to move away.

         An official of the airline charged that the fighter pilots
"screwed up" or "were playing games" during the encounter.

         But New Jersey National Guard Col. Thomas Griffin said the F-16
pilots simply were trying to identify a plane that shouldn't have been in
that sector.

         The National Transportation Safety Board mobilized investigation
teams to look into both incidents.

         Maj. Gen. Donald Shepperd, director of the Air National Guard,
told a Pentagon briefing he considered military aviation "very, very safe,"
noting that thousands of flights occur each day over the East Coast.

         In yesterday's incident, the pilot of the American Eagle
turboprop, en route from Raleigh Durham in North Carolina to New York's JFK
Airport, reported two jet fighters flew above his plane and two below.

         Shepperd said three fighters passed at least 300 metres above the
civilian plane and the fourth, with low fuel levels, was 450 metres below
it.