Turkish pilot lands at wrong airport

Poor command of English is said to be the reason why the pilot of a Turkish charter plane landed by mistake at a Polish airbase close to the western city of Poznan and not a civilian airport, situated a dozen kilometers away.

After a 3 hour stop over, the plane with 200 Polish tourists on board was allowed to fly on to the civilian airport. Ground control said the female pilot of a Boeing 737 listened to their command but could not say why she landed at the Krzesiny military airport. A spokesman for the ministry of defense colonel Piotr Paszkowski said the pilot spoke poor English and was very shaken.

A representative of the Civilian Aviation Office described the event as an aviation incident. The office will ask the Turkish aviation authorities for an explanation. If no explanation is given, or the Turkish side does not draw consequences from the incident, the Civilian Aviation Office may withdraw permission for the flight operator Sky Airways to organize flights to Poland or to blacklist the Turkish company.