Around 11:55 p.m. an aircraft identified as a Boeing 747 cargo plane flew over the eastern outskirts of Brussels at low altitude in, shaking the houses. Residents were not amused, many claiming that they had come close to disaster. One resident of Wezembeek-Oppem commune confirmed the impressive sight of the aircraft above the houses. “My partner and I were still awake at that hour. We were surprised and concerned by the roar of the machine. We froze on the spot for a moment. It must have been directly above our house. The noise was so loud that I thought that it would wake up our children. I imagined I heard the sound of an impact and an explosion but I was wrong, it seems. ”
Today, Frédéric Petit, Wezembeek-Oppem’s mayor will file a complaint, along with Michel Leclaire, a former airline pilot and activist at the AWACSS residents association. “The aircraft really skimmed the town,” says Frédéric Petit, who is making the complaint as a citizen. “It was a Boeing 747 cargo plane owned by Magma,” he says. “It was flying below 1,000 feet, between 200 and 300 meters.”
According to the mayor, an aircraft of this type is simply not allowed to take off from runway 19, since any plane exceeding 200 tonnes is prohibited. La Libre Belgique claims that it informed sources say that this aircraft has committed several offences before leaving Brussels airspace, by not respecting the correct runway and other infractions.
The residents association UBCNA regrets that there is an increase of this type of offence at night. For UBCNA: “It is clear that we narrowly escaped a serious plane crash last night at Wezembeek -Oppem and the infractions must be severely punished , and we need an investigation to ascertain the find out why Belgocontrol did not follow all aviation procedures at Zaventem.”
Photo: oliton