Light Plane shot down by Serbian wedding guests

[PAXboy]

from BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3185884.stm) web site Sunday evening 12th.

opening paragraphs ...

Guests at a wedding in central Serbia have apparently shot down a small aircraft by mistake.

They were celebrating in the traditional way - firing off shot after shot into the air above the wedding party. Unfortunately, there was a two-seater aircraft flying overhead.

One eye-witness told reporters the plane was shot in the left wing. He saw flames coming from the aircraft which, a few moments later, flew into overhead power-cables.

Two men on board are reported to have been seriously injured. Firing weapons is a common way of celebrating here.

[Unwell_Raptor]

A bit like Brixton then.

[Colonel Klink]

Is that the same as a shotgun wedding then?:ok:

[Dop]

I'm sorry. I know it's not at all funny, and two people have been seriously injured by this incident. I wish them a full recovery.

But I can't read the phrase "shot down a small aircraft by mistake" without giggling.

It must be the wording. Or maybe the fact that I'm drunk. Oh yes. That would be it...

[the silk one]

I always believed that weddings were potentially lethal only to the pair mad enough to be getting hitched. Whenever I drive by a church with an imminent wedding, I stop & yell out of the window: DON'T DO IT. Hope I've managed to persuade at least one poor woman to think again!!

[Homer Simpson]

"Poor Woman" !!!!!

I think you've got that one round the wrong way sweetheart. ;)

[Nopax,thanx]

Reminds me of an article I read a year or so back, about the fragile ceasefire in Serbia. One Christmas morning, the sound of rapid gunfire was heard, causing some consternation amongst the UN peacekeeping force; until someone recognised a certain rhythm to the shots - it was someone firing 'Jingle Bells' into the air on a Kalashnikov!

[Idunno]

Shoot down aircraft overflying your wedding?
Now theres a new angle for celebs.
No more nasty papparazzi taking sneak photos of your big day...bring out the AA guns and shoot the feckers down!:}

[Genghis the Engineer]

I can't help suspect from this that ICAO needs to invent a whole series of new NOTAM abbreviated codes just to cover Serbia and Montenegro!

G

[FlyingForFun]

Interesting new angle, from Reuters (http://uk.news.yahoo.com/031013/80/eaxq1.html):BELGRADE (Reuters) - A two-seater sports plane on an unauthorised joyride was apparently shot down by mistake when it flew over a Serbian wedding party where guests were firing guns into the air, local media have reported.

Two men were reported to have sustained serious injuries when their aircraft burst into flames and crashed near Kraljevo, central Serbia.

"I heard shots from a wedding party which was very close to the crash site. Then I saw the plane in flames. It was shot in the left wing," witness Zoran Vukadinovic told reporters on Sunday.

"A few moments later, while attempting a crash landing, it was caught in overhead power cables," he said.

Local media said neither of the men held a pilot's licence.

Firing guns into the air at weddings and other celebrations is common in Serbia. Not sure what to make of the fact that it was an "unauthorised joyride", or that "neither of the men held a pilot's license" - my first thought is to wonder if this is connected to it being shot down, but I can't figure out how it could be connected.

FFF
-------------

[DSR10]

Only slightly worse than holding a wedding in Afganistan where the US forces kill all the guests

[Synthetic]

Firing weapons is a common way of celebrating here. :eek:

In Hertfordshire ?? :eek:

Good 'Heads Up' PAXBoy

[Check 6]

Close call for me. I flew into Pristina today. Apparently we did not fly over any weddings, or I would not be typing this.

;)