German Pilots Claim
Immunity In Lawsuit

ODESSA, Texas —(AP)— The German air force says its Luftwaffe pilots have "diplomatic immunity" in a lawsuit filed by ranchers wanting to restrict low-level training missions in West Texas.

The flights startle people and livestock and can have more serious consequences, the ranchers contend.

There have been reports of near-collisions with civilian aircraft, cowboys being thrown by spooked horses and people being bowled over by the powerful downdrafts the planes create at low altitudes.

In April, a coalition of ranchers filed suit in U.S. District Court in Pecos. Defendants included both the Luftwaffe and the U.S. Air Force, which is training German pilots at Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, N.M.

The Luftwaffe's response, filed last week, said its pilots are immune from court jurisdiction.

"That's just crazy," plantiff Kaare Remme told the Odessa American.

"What are we supposed to do? Let a foreign power operate here illegally? Do we have to call Border Patrol?" Remme said.

Remme said the German air force claim to immunity runs counter to the Holloman "bed-down" agreement it signed in which it agreed to abide by the laws and regulations of the U.S. Air Force before beginning operations in the United States in 1991.

Now the Luftwaffe wants to increase by 30 the number of German Tornado jets allowed to train in these areas. High altitude refueling, which isn't now part of the training flights, would also occur under these proposals.

The ranchers also object to the proposed Realistic Bomber Training Initiative, which could have B-1 and B-52 bombers flying training sorties, some as low as 300 feet, in either West Texas or northeastern New Mexico as early as October 2001.

An Environmental Assessment report by the U.S. Air Force on expanded low-level flights found that there would be "no significant impact" on the environment if the proposals were approved. The final statement is due in April 1999.

No date has been set for the lawsuit to be tried.