The incident, being
investigated by the Foreign Office, happened as the Monarch flight
carrying passengers from Manchester was making its delicate approach on
to the Rock, one of the world’s trickiest landings.
Last night a
senior Tory MP called on Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond to send
Spain’s Ambassador to Britain, Federico Trillo, “packing back to
Madrid”.
The Sunday Express has learned the passenger jet’s
captain reported seeing the two aircraft less than half a mile away and
air traffic controllers at Gibraltar International Airport noticed “two
dots” on their radar just before 10.30am on September 19.
Both
jets, thought to be Eurofighter Typhoons, were clearly in Gibraltar
airspace without permission but attempts to communicate with them were
ignored.
Last night Gibraltar’s outraged government said the
“intolerable” incident marked a new phase in Spain’s deliberate flouting
of British sovereignty.
A government spokesman said: “Spanish
vessels already regularly violate the sovereignty of our waters. It is
intolerable that Spanish military aircraft are now not only infringing
our airspace but also behaving in a reckless and dangerous manner.”
While
no commercial airliner has ever crashed while landing at Gibraltar, it
is widely regarded as having one of the world’s top 10 most challenging
runways, with pilots having to contend with strong winds, the 1.400ft
Rock of Gibraltar and the tight envelope of British airspace.
Last
night retired pilot Chris Hammond said: “I used to go there quite
regularly. It’s a restricted airfield, which means only specially
cleared pilots are allowed to fly there.
“It presents a challenging approach, especially when wind conditions mean pilots have to make an easterly approach.
“You
need to go inside the harbor and only half if it is British airspace
and you are not allowed to stray into Spanish airspace. Then you have to
make a last-minute sharp 90 degree turn to the right. That happened
less than a mile and half from landing.
“All your attention is
focused on the approach and the last thing you need is to see two
unexpected jets where they’re not supposed to be. The real question in
the pilot’s mind would have been what they were going to do next.”
Andrew
Rosindell MP, chairman of the parliamentary Overseas Territory group,
said: “My committee is completely shocked by the weakness of the Foreign
Office in addressing the Spanish issue and its failure to tackle what
Madrid is doing. We are pussyfooting around while Spain is running rings
around us. It is outrageous that Spain continues to behave in such an
irresponsible and bullying fashion.
“Spain refuses to let British
military jets fly over Spanish airspace on the way to Gibraltar even
though they are partners in Nato, yet they think it’s fine to enter
British airspace illegally and potentially distract an airliner as it is
trying to safely land on the Rock.
“It’s time that the British
Government sent the Spanish Ambassador packing back to Madrid. We are
fed up with the bullying and intimidation from Spain, and it’s time we
showed we are no longer prepared to put up with it.”
Mr Trillo,
Spain’s ambassador to Britain since 2012, has been formally summoned to
the Foreign Office on three occasions in the past 12 months over
repeated Spanish incursions into British waters around Gibraltar and
massive delays for drivers at the border caused by heavy-handed Spanish
frontier guards.
Last night a Foreign Office spokesman said: “We
are aware of the incident on September 19. We are reassured that there
was no risk to safety caused by the activity of the jets.
“We are continuing to examine the incident to ascertain whether it was within the lawful right of passage.”
Original Story and Comments: http://www.express.co.uk
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