at the antics our of fellow Somali's in Djbouti. I like that they don't tolerate disrespect from foreigners.
Washington Post link
"Unlike other major U.S. military bases around the world, Camp Lemonnier is wholly dependent on civilian air-traffic controllers, hired by the government of Djibouti to keep the skies safe."
Much respect to Djbouti for having control over their airspace.
Washington Post link
Controllers have been known to force pilots they believe disrespected them to circle the field until they’re dangerously low on fuel. During the day, controllers chew khat, a stimulant that’s banned in the United States. At night, they sleep while pilots call out for landing instructions.
Documents obtained by The Washington Post show that the air traffic controllers, civilians who work for the Djibouti government, regularly nap, listen to music, play video games and text on their mobile phones while directing military traffic from several nations, as well as civilian traffic from major world airlines. Many of the controllers are also resentful of the foreign presence in their country.
“Literally, it’s the most dangerous airspace I’ve seen in the world, and I’ve been to Afghanistan,” one Federal Aviation Administration official who spent a year in Djibouti told the Post.
The Djiboutians particularly dislike drones. At one point, the U.S. military had to move drone operations to a remote strip elsewhere in the country because the controllers would refuse to give them permission to use the runway because they thought them unreliable and blamed the drones for the deaths of fellow Muslims.
The U.S. government has tried to improve the conditions at Djibouti, hiring a consultant to retrain the tower personnel. The effort collapsed after the Djiboutians stopped showing up for classes and locked the American trainers out of the flight tower. In another incident, a U.S. Navy officer was threatened by controllers with a pipe.
"Unlike other major U.S. military bases around the world, Camp Lemonnier is wholly dependent on civilian air-traffic controllers, hired by the government of Djibouti to keep the skies safe."
Much respect to Djbouti for having control over their airspace.
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