Airline Crew Fakes Emergency To Make Soccer Kickoff

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The pilots of a chartered Lockheed L-1011 were headed for Lima, Peru, last Tuesday when they told air traffic control they were low on fuel and would have to divert to the northern coastal city of Piura. Emergency crews were scrambled, and the jet landed safely … just in time for the 300 Gambians on board to make it to the nearby soccer match where their home team was competing. “It truly was a scam,” Betty Maldonado, a spokeswoman for Peru’s aviation authority, told The Associated Press. “They tricked the control tower.” The Air Rum jet had been chartered by Gambian President Yahya Jammeh. The passengers were allowed to attend the game, but the jet was held pending a decision by the authorities on what penalties they would levy against the charter operator.

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