希腊空军拦截美“幽灵飞机”：俩飞行员睡着了

导读:报道说，F-16的飞行员试图搞清楚飞机里究竟发生了什么事情，他们看到德尔塔航班的飞行员都还在自己的座位上，但可能是睡着了。

It was just a few hours after EgyptAir flight MS804 vanished from radar, later discovered to have crashed into the Mediterranean Sea killing 66 people.

法国航班从雷达上消失数小时后，被发现坠入地中海，机上66人遇难。

Air traffic controllers around the world were on high alert, so when Delta Airlines flight DL8957 from Germany to Kuwait strayed into Greek airspace around 7.10pm, they jumped into action.

故而全球的航空管制都保持着高度警戒。所以，当德尔塔航空公司从德国飞往科威特的8957航班在19：10误入希腊领空时，希腊空军采取了行动。

The Athens-based controllers issued repeated — and frantic — requests for the pilots to identify themselves but were met with silence.

希腊雅典管制中心反复尝试——几近发狂——请求对方飞行员确认身份，但未得到任何回复。

Due to hijack fears, the incident was immediately brought to the attention of the country’s Ministry of Defence by the Greek Civil Aviation authority.

由于担心发生了劫持事件，希腊民航当局立即上报此事，引起了希腊国防部的重视。

With no idea what was happening on board, two F-16 fighter jets were scrambled to intercept the “ghost flight”, which was at this point nearing Santorini, the UK’S Mirror reported. This was standard military protocol.

据英国镜报报道，因不知道发生了什么情况，两架F-16战斗机紧急起飞拦截“幽灵航班”，此时航班已接近圣托里尼。这是标准的军事协议。

The F-16 pilots tried to see what was happening inside the plane, reporting that the Delta pilots appeared to be in their seats but were possibly asleep. One of the fighter jets even flew in front of the Boeing passenger plane and used light signals in a desperate attempt to rouse them, but there was still no response.

报道说，F-16的飞行员试图搞清楚飞机里究竟发生了什么事情，他们看到德尔塔航班的飞行员都还在自己的座位上，但可能是睡着了。其中一架战机甚至飞到这架波音客机前，使用灯光信号拼命的想要唤醒他们，但对方仍然没有反应。

It was only when shocked passengers alerted flight attendants to the fighter jets that surrounded the plane, that the pilots were roused as the crew banged on the cockpit door. They then contacted Greek authorities. By then, it had been nearly an hour without any contact.

最后，直到受惊的乘客向空乘人员反映有战斗机包围了飞机，人们敲开了驾驶舱的门才唤醒了飞行员。之后他们才与希腊当局联系上。彼时已经失联将近1小时。