Greek/Turkish collision

[ozzy72]

Greek and Turkish fighter jets have collided in mid-air over the southern Aegean sea, Greek officials say.
The collision happened near to the island of Karpathos and a search and rescue effort is under way.
One defence official said the jets were shadowing each other when the crash happened. The pilots' fate is unknown.
Greece and Turkish warplanes frequently intercept each other in the Aegean, where they dispute airspace and territorial waters.
In the past, the two have come close to armed conflict in the area.
"The planes collided during interception manoeuvres above Karpathos," a defence ministry official was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.

[expat]

Cut from Sky News Website:

Fighter Jets In Collision
Updated: 14:03, Tuesday May 23, 2006

A Turkish pilot is reported to have been rescued after two Turkish and Greek F-16 fighters collided over the Aegean sea.

Turkish broadcaster NTV said the pilot, who used his ejector seat, was rescued by a commercial vessel 100 miles off the Turkish coast.

It is not known what has happened to the pilot of the Greek F-16.

Turkey's General Staff said the collision occurred during routine training in international waters.

In a statement, the General Staff also said the collision happened when Greek jets interfered in the exercise.

According to the Greeks, the two aircraft collided in mid-air while shadowing each other above the southern Aegean island of Karpathos.

Helicopters were being sent to the area and a frigate had been ordered to sail towards Karpathos to take part in the search and rescue operation.

Greece says it scrambles fighters daily to intercept Turkish aircraft which it claims invade the airspace of its islands.

Turkey denies the flights are a violation of Greek territory, saying only international airspace is being used.

Greece claims a 10-mile exclusion zone around its coast, but Turkey recognises only a six-mile zone.

The two countries came close to war as recently as 1996 over a rocky outcrop but the United States mediated a settlement.

In recent years ties have improved between the two countries and Greece has supported its neighbour's drive for membership of the European Union.

[Fozzer]

...the word "Aggravation" springs to mind...;...!

Paul... ...!

[Hagar]

I suspect this is the real reason. A mock dogfight that went wrong.

The BBC's Richard Galpin in Athens says interception attempts happen frequently, with the two sides shadowing each other and even staging mock dog fights in their disputed air space.

Nato has previously warned the two member states that these are dangerous

Hope the Greek pilot is OK.

[expat]

...the word "Aggravation" springs to mind...;...!

Paul... ...!

Either that or 6 and two 3's :-/

Matt

[C]

Turkish broadcaster NTV said the pilot, who used his ejector seat,

And there I was, thinking he'd probably just open the conopy and step over the side....

[Hai Perso Coyone?]

Wow...smart pilots...Mock dog fighting... :-/ :-/

[Ivan]

From the footage i saw on tv they were very busy annoying each other (corckscrewing around the other plane)... which ended in a midair

[beaky]

When two aircraft try to intercept each other, that's a dogfight, if you ask me.
Reminds me of a certain Chinese fighter jockey "playing chicken" with a certain USAF EP-3 not too long ago...

http://www.aeronautics.ru/news/news001/news033.htm

[elite marksman]

[quote author=Sky News
Turkey's General Staff said the collision occurred during routine training in international waters.


According to the Greeks, the two aircraft collided in mid-air while shadowing each other above the southern Aegean island of Karpathos.
[/qoute]

Ok, which was it? If they were over Karpathos, or within 10 (24 by international convention) miles of it, the Greeks had every right to shoot the Turks down, rather than shadow them. If it was in international waters, we have an unfortunate occurance.
I'll go with the Greek's statement as Karpathos is only about 60 miles from Turkey.