Tepper Aviation
Tepper Aviation was an airline allegedly financed by the US secret service CIA . This has also been linked to the transport of terrorist suspects to secret camps in Europe. It was suspected that detainees would be interrogated and tortured during the flights and that the prisons were just stopovers.
Tepper stopped its activities in 2006.
history
,_Tepper_Aviation_AN0313202.jpg)
Tepper Aviation Inc. was founded on July 2, 1987 in Florida . The company succeeded St. Lucia Airways , which ceased operations in the same year due to the involvement in the Iran-Contra affair . In the 1980s and 1990s, the company carried out arms transports via Zaire to Angola on behalf of the CIA, circumventing the UN embargo , in order to support the pro-western civil war party UNITA .
According to a report in the Austrian newspaper Die Presse on November 25, 2005, the American foreign secret service owned three bogus companies: Tepper Aviation , Pegasus Technologies and Aero Contractors . They use a total of 26 aircraft, from a Boeing 737 to business aircraft and military transport aircraft. The Süddeutsche Zeitung called on 5 April 2006 in addition to these three companies also the Premier Executive Transport Services as a front company known the CIA. In addition, the Crestview Aerospace Corporation shares the company headquarters and parts of the management staff with Tepper Aviation .
The civilian machines of the CIA were used when one wanted to avoid the involvement of the US government becoming known. According to the New York Times report , terror suspects are to be flown to interrogations in countries where one is less “squeamish” about interrogation methods, such as Libya .
On 21 January 2003, the Lockheed L-100 Hercules was with the air vehicle registration N8183J of Austrian interceptors of the type Saab J-35 Draken intercepted and escorted from the Austrian airspace. The Austrian Armed Forces cited "doubts about the civilian mission of the machine" as the reason for this.
Incidents
On November 27, 1989, a Lockheed L-100-20 (registration number: N9205T , name: Gray Ghost ) of Tepper Aviation crashed on approach near the town of Jamba in Angola . The aircraft, which took off from the Kamina military base in Zaire and was previously operated by St. Lucia Airways , had loaded weapons intended for UNITA . On board the plane were Pharies “Bud” B. Petty, the then managing director of Tepper Aviation , and four other employees, including two West German citizens. In addition, the aircraft carried an unknown number of UNITA members. All occupants were killed in the crash.
Individual evidence
- ^ Tepper Aviation. In: /airlinehistory.co.uk. Retrieved June 24, 2020 .
- ↑ a b The Arms Flyers: Commercial Aviation, Human Rights and the Business of War and Arms, Peter Danssaert & Sergio Finardi (PDF) ( Memento of the original from September 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and still Not checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Airpower News 03/2003
- ^ Aviation Safety Network, November 27, 1989
- ↑ Flight International, December 19, 1989 (PDF)
.svg){kind=small}