smh@mit-eddie.UUCP (Steven M. Haflich) (09/07/83)
US air carries regularly overfly Cuba -- at least they did when I flew from N.Y. to Jamaica in 1968. When I asked the crew about this practice, I was told that the agreements allowing such overflights predated the Castro takeover and (like the U.S. Guantanamo (sp?)Naval Base rental) had never been renegotiated or terminated. I wonder if these flights continue?
stanwyck@ihuxr.UUCP (09/08/83)
There is a commercial flight lane that passes almost directly over the center of Cuba. It is used by planes of many nations, as well as private aircraft. There has never been an incident as long as aircraft have stayed within the specified lane. There have been a few small-craft shot down that strayed outside the flight lane. The lane is well marked on aviation maps, and the Cuban government has from time-to-time reiterated its agreement with the presence of the specified flight path. (my wife used to work for u.s. intelligence specializing in the area around that flight path through Cuba. ) don stanwyck : 312-979-6667 : ihnp4!ihuxr!stanwyck p.s. I used to work for u.s. intelligence in the far east, and from my experiance i do not believe for a minute that the KAL flight had any u.s. intelligence gear aboard. it may have had ROK gear on it, though i doubt it. i think it was either pilot error, machine error (hardware, of course!), or possibly the KAl pilot trying to save $$ (i.e. fuel) by going a shorter route to Seoul.
wb@ulysses.UUCP (09/09/83)
Last March I was returning to NY from a conference in Miami and most of the Eastern flights out of Miami were delayed several hours. The explanation given was that Regan had shown some pictures of a Cuban missle base (?) on TV during a news conference the previous evening and the Cubans were not letting any US flights cross Cuba. Since many Eastern flights up north originate in South America, pilots were required to draw up and file new flight plans which circumvented Cuba. I don't know whether the Cubans have since relented.
esj@ihuxl.UUCP (09/09/83)
We overflew Cuba in January on a flight from Chicago to Montego Bay, Jamaica. The pilot (or copilot) told us that the flights had to be cleared with the Cubans about a month in advance and we had to stay in a certain corridor. On the night flight back, several messages from the Cuban controllers were badly garbled and plagued by static, to the point where our pilots were asking them to repeat each message three or four times. This went on for about twenty minutes during which time I could clearly hear them directing other traffic in the area. Now if the radio in our plane was bad, why could I hear them talking to other planes while ones directed to us were garbled? Same thing for their transmitter(s) being bad. I'll admit the possibility of coincidence but it made me wonder. To top things off, the Miami controllers then tried to vector us in for a landing in Orlando. "Oops! Sorry United 5575, we seem to have lost you. Maintain present heading and speed and we'll try to clear this up." Or something along those lines. ihnp4!ihuxl!esj