quote:
Radio disruptions at B-G airport caused by W. Bank pirate station
By Zohar Blumenkrantz, Haaretz Correspondent
An illegal radio station operating out of the West Bank city of Ramallah caused interference in communications between Ben Gurion International Airport's control tower and the airplanes.
Communications Minister, Ariel Attias said the station had been found and closed down on Thursday. Despite this, some further interference was experienced by the control tower.
Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz said Thursday that he would call for an urgent cabinet meeting in order to discuss the pirate radio transmissions which have been causing disturbances in air traffic control communications at Ben Gurion airport, situated in Tel Aviv.
Disruptions continued on Thursday morning as the control tower was forced to wait 10 minutes between each take-off, as a safety precaution. These precautions are expected to cause delays in the departure of flights.
Mofaz said he would demand at the meeting harsher penalties for those transmitting from pirate radio stations that have been disrupting communications between the control towers and pilots.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/868016.htmlThis article is from last month, but this morning, once again planes where delayed at the airport because of these pirate radio stations. In my opinion it is only a matter of time before a major accident occurs.
Imagine two large planes, full of passengers, trying coming in to land. Suddenly, they start hearing music from a pirate radio station, instead of the terminal. They are unable to determine where the other planes are and crash into another plane.
This is a serious incident in my opinion and must be dealt with harshly. Yes, those radio stations are only trying to 'get their message across,' but in doing so, they are endangering the lives of hundreds of passengers on various planes attempting to land.
They may say that 'it's just a radio station,' but the laws are in place there for a reason. The reason being, not to endanger the lives of other human beings.
Your opinion, is it acceptable for the government to raid these radio station in order to shut them down, or is the government being to extreme?
