ISRAEL Infrequent Flyer

A camouflaged MiG-23 interceptor of the Syrian air force took off from a base near Damascus last week, flew on a training mission to the Golan Heights, then dropped to 164 ft. and zoomed straight into Israel. It landed on a civilian airstrip at Megiddo, 57 miles north of Jerusalem, where its pilot, Major Mohammed Bassem Adel, 34, asked for political asylum. At a press conference last week, he said he had defected because “I would like to live in a democratic state.”

Not since 1966, when an Iraqi landed in central Israel, had an Arab pilot defected to Israel. Embarrassed Syrians claimed engine trouble had forced the plane to land. The MiG was equipped with new electronics that Israeli intelligence officers were eager to inspect, and Adel seemed willing to tell all. But Jerusalem was still not happy. News that the MiG had flown undetected over Israel for seven minutes stirred a public storm of anger, and Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin promised “a thorough investigation.”