Ooops! Separation of Church and Aircraft?
Pilots flying on a wing and a prayer | Oddly Enough | Reuters.co.uk:
DUBLIN (Reuters) - Irish Catholic priests illegally broadcasting Mass over the radio to housebound parishioners are suspected of creating a safety hazard for trans-Atlantic jets, officials said on Tuesday.
Irish communications regulator ComReg has spoken to three churches in central Ireland to warn them that their unlicensed transmission of daily and Sunday services might be creating problems for airliners as they flew overhead.
"I knew it was sort of a grey area but I didn't know we were breaking the law," Father Brendan Quinlan, a Dublin parish priest, told the Irish Independent.
The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) said that pilots on trans-Atlantic flights have complained to air traffic control for more than a year of hearing static on their radios.
"We believe that (the Mass broadcasts) are possibly the source of the interference. I understand that ComReg are closing down the priests for want of a better term," IAA spokeswoman Lilian Cassin said.