Libyan Mirage's ordered to shoot citizens-defect to Malta

[bizjets101]

Libyan Mirage F1's number 502 and 508, and two Super Puma's F-GHOY and F-GYSH.

Two Libyan Air Force Mirage jet fighters unexpectedly flew to Malta this afternoon with their pilots claiming they escaped to Malta after having been ordered to bomb protesters who have taken control of the second city of Benghazi.

The pilots told the Maltese authorities that they left from a base near Tripoli. Their aircraft were armed with air to ground rockets.

The pilots initially asked for emergency clearance to land and for refuelling. Upon landing they were questioned by the police and sought political asylum.

Their arrival followed shortly after the arrival of two civilian helicopters which flew in and landed at Malta International Airport this afternoon carrying seven people.

Informed sources said the helicopters 'escaped from Libya with no official clearance' but arrived in Malta regularly.

Such was the haste of their departure from Libya, that only one of the passengers was carrying a passport. The passengers claimed they are French.

Immigration police are checking the identities of the passengers while holding them at the airport.

Photos

Armed with rockets and

[CL-Skadoo!]

That's some serious guts right there. Could we all say that we would have done the same? Who knows? But these guys know who's looking back in them in the mirror, that's for sure

[Go Juice]

Balls!!!!! serious BALLZZ

[Jack Klumpus]

That crazy madmen will have their families killed, if in libya.

[Panama Jack]

Talk about serious ethical decisions one has to make at a critical time. Especially soldiers who have been trained to be desensitized and obey orders without question.

[CL-Skadoo!]

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=4ba_1298327825


I saw on al-Jezeera this morning that someone had they had suspected another 8 aircraft followed suit after the first two left.

[buck82]

Seriously, wouldn't we all disobey an order to kill unarmed civilians, bomb, shoot and them? I'ld like to think so. When your your commanding officer issues such an insane order, you have the right not to obey, or accept it. Good on them.. and lets hope more military members begin thinking rationally about this situation.

[MrWings]

The best thing would have been for these guys to overfly Gadhafi's palace and hit the drop switch.

Instant heroes. Case closed.

[MrWings]

Seriously, wouldn't we all disobey an order to kill unarmed civilians, bomb, shoot and them?

Ever hear of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Dresden, ...

Or you mean your own civilians? Like the 1968 Chicago riots?

Mayor Daley told the Chicago Police to shoot to kill anyone in the act of committing arson, and shoot to maim anyone looting.

[buck82]

Well certainly your own civilians, and frankly I don't condone the bombing of foreign civilians either; which happened throughout WW2.

[MrWings]

The point is that these pilots did make a judgement call and it probably wasn't as easy as you might think.

[Brewguy]

+1

Seriously, wouldn't we all disobey an order to kill unarmed civilians, bomb, shoot and them? I'ld like to think so. When your your commanding officer issues such an insane order, you have the right not to obey, or accept it.

But still a tough decision for these guys, living under a dictatorship.

Obey, and not only are you a murderer, but are also likely to be charged with war crimes at some point down the road (those first two defectors were apparently both colonels).

Disobey and return home - and be shot.

Disobey and defect - and every friend and family member you've ever known will be taken out and shot.

Tough choice. Spare the lives of innocent strangers, but sacrifice the lives of you wife and kids to do it... And in the end, know that someone else will get the job done, even if you don't.

I applaud their move, but as has already been said - it's a hell of a gutsy move. I hope these guys were well connected enough, that someone is looking out for their loved ones.

[Ballsssssss]

Balls!!!!! serious BALLZZ

Yes?! What can I do for you?

[ArcticKat]

+1



Tough choice. Spare the lives of innocent strangers, but sacrifice the lives of you wife and kids to do it... And in the end, know that someone else will get the job done, even if you don't.

I applaud their move, but as has already been said - it's a hell of a gutsy move. I hope these guys were well connected enough, that someone is looking out for their loved ones.

One could hope that the pax on the helicopters just might be the families of those pilots.

[kilpicki]

7T (Algerian) aircraft are landing in Libya with ammo and supplies to assist Gadaffi. I wonder why that's not made the world news.

[CL-Skadoo!]

That's fine, Gaddafi duck has less than a week to live, the sooner the better, however.

[Jack Klumpus]

Friends in high places: Col Gaddafi with Brown (PM of Britain) in Italy in July



Tony Blair (ex-PM of Britain)



Italian's Berlusconi



France's Sarkozy



U.S.'s Obama



obama



Russia's Medvedev

[benoit.baril]

12:35am: A Libyan pilot - speaking from Switzerland - tells Al Jazeera he flew a plane load of mercenaries into Libya. He said he didn't realise what was happening at the time, but that the group were not speaking Arabic, but could hear them chanting verse. He urged his fellow pilots not to go to work and not to answer their phones. He said that, in the chaos of Tripoli, they would not be found. He said he was sure they and their families would be safe as the regime collapsed and lost power.

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/africa/2011/ ... bya-feb-23

[bmc]

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Libya--- ... 1871075/L/

[Changes in Latitudes]

It looks like the pilots have spines over there!
Two helicopters defected, and another group punched out of their Su-22.

http://gizmodo.com/#!5768340/two-libyan ... -civilians

Libyan newspaper Quryna is reporting a crash of a Sukhoi Su-22 'Fitter' fighter-bomber. According to the reporter, the crash happened very near the sea line, to the west of the Libyan city of Ajdabiya—160 kilometers south west of Benghazi. The reason: The crew ejected after refusing to bomb civilians in the city of Benghazi. The pilot—a colonel—and his co-pilot are fine.

This is the third aircraft incident during the popular uprising against Qaddafi. In the first, two Mirage F1 defected, landing in Malta. Two SuperPuma helicopters also escaped to Malta. Nobody knows why the Su-22 pilot decided to eject and crash his aircraft—instead of trying to reach Malta himself—but, at this rate, the Libyan Air Force is going to run out of airplanes soon.

[grimey]

Jack, Qaddafi has sponsored the IRA and protected the Pan-Am bombers. Two American F-111s dropped bombs on Tripoli that killed his daughter. I'm sure he loves America and the rest of the western world. If you can't figure out the difference between support and friendship, and the necessity for respectful dialog in international diplomacy, you should read more before you type.

[Beefitarian]

In response to that photo montage of GhadaffiI offer lyrics from a great song.

Hey, I'd like to meet his tailor.

[2R]

[grimey]

If the auto workers unions hadn't bankrupted the big 3, and accepted reasonable wages, they wouldn't have to open plants in Turkey. You can hardly blame the corporations alone when half the reason for outsourcing is incredibly high labor costs at home.

[akoch]

Well certainly your own civilians, and frankly I don't condone the bombing of foreign civilians either; which happened throughout WW2.

Add NATO/Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam to the list and the list goes on and on. Folks seem to be all to happy to pull the trigger, "in the name of..... " put what you like here.