The World: Chicken in the Air

When a Lufthansa Boeing 737 with 42 passengers aboard had to take swift evasive action to avoid being rammed by a U.S. Air Force Phantom over Rudesheim on a clear day last July, it seemed like one of the normal hazards of flying in West Germany's overcrowded airspace. But that same day a British airliner approaching Hamburg had a near miss with another jet fighter. Ten days later, another British plane was buzzed by an unidentified Phantom not once but three times, the last pass coming within 100 yds. That could hardly have been accidental.

The West German Air Traffic Controllers Association...

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