Ambassador’s mansion in Budapest and causing some residents to flee their homes this weekend, but said local aviation authorities had approved it.
“I apologize if people were scared,” stressed pilot Peter Besenyei, who in 2001 received international attention when he flew his German made Extra 300, single seater, plane upside down under the famous Chain Bridge in Budapest, Hungary’s capital.
Besenyei, 49, admitted to BosNewsLife that most residents were not warned in advance of Saturday’s show and that American Ambassador Richard H. Walker among others may have been tempted to fear a repeat of the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States which involved airplanes flying into buildings.
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Farmotel Stefania is located in hunting area in one of Hungary’s most prestigious wine regions. Near hills, forests and lakes. It has all the facilities of a fine hotel and offers full privacy, huge outdoor space, sauna, grill house and much more.
Budapest police officials confirmed they had received phone calls from anxious citizens.
The pilot stressed the Hungarian Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) “gave permission” after “400-thousand Hungarian Forints” (about $2,000) were paid to various people, including local authorities, an airport and himself. “In this area and time Peter Besenyei, Hungarian acrobatic world champion, was flying an airshow with the permission of Hungarian CAA,” the CAA spokeswoman, Erika Bajko, confirmed in an e-mail message to BosNewsLife.
Besenyei added his “10-minutes of acrobatics” that shook especially Budapest’s District Two were ordered by a Hungarian company “celebrating a family weekend in a sports park.” He denied flying dangerously low over homes, although BosNewsLife News Center was briefly evacuated because the plane seemed to crash in its building or nearby homes with a reported speed of up to 300 kilometers (188 miles) per hour.
“DANGEROUS THINGS”
“I know what I saw. He was doing all kinds of dangerous things, including a free fall, a death spiral, and picking up just a few meters from the roof of houses. There was heavy black and brown smoke from the plane and when it was turning, flames could be seen,” said Agnes R. Bos, co-founder of BosNewsLife News Agency and a reporter of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
“I hope you and your neighbors weren’t disturbed by this air show. But if you want to announce the complaint, you can do it in an e-mail also,” CAA’s Bakjo said.
The pilot stressed there was no reason for panic. “I have done this kind of shows around the world for 25 years and I know what to do when things go wrong. On Saturday, if there would have been an engine failure, there was always a possibility for me to crash in the forest.” Bos argued that would be a bad idea as “there is an orphanage full with children” in that area.
Despite the controversy, more air shows can be expected in the skies over Budapest, said Gabor Talabos, director at Tokol Airport, a former Soviet military airfield 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) south of the capital, from where the stunt pilot took off Saturday, September 3. Talabos told BosNewsLife his company will fly anywhere for money “because this helps us to operate the airport.”
NATO CONCERNED
The practice in Budapest, now a European Union city of roughly two million people, was expected to raise eyebrows within the NATO defense alliance which has pressured its member Hungary to improve airspace security, following the September 11 attacks.
Earlier this year Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany expressed concern about the situation after a former Hungarian Air Force pilot managed to fly “undetected” during an adventurous journey in a small airplane from the Serbian border, over Hungary’s only nuclear power station Paks.
Serbian fighter jets already violated Hungarian airspace on several occasions during the Balkan wars of the 1990’s with the military unable to respond in time, while a rocket was accidentally fired on a Hungarian village. Experts estimate Hungary has currently 130 ailing military radars from the era when the country was part of the Communist Warsaw Pact before joining NATO, its former enemy, in 1999.
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