An airplane flies as smoke rises after an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
"We are not military pilots. We are not trained to deal with these kinds of threats in the air." These were the words of Tanja Harter, a pilot with Middle East experience and president of the European Cockpit Association.
Airline pilots have faced escalating risks in recent years, from drone incursions to flight paths squeezed by conflict. Now US-Israeli attacks on Iran are making the skies even more perilous.
The outbreak of war in the Middle East has put hundreds of ballistic missiles and attack drones into the skies above some of the world's busiest airports, with Tehran's retaliation hitting airports and grounding scores of flights from Dubai to Abu Dhabi.
Reuters spoke to eight pilots and more than half a dozen aviation and security insiders who said the accumulation of conflicts has increased the burden on pilots, forcing them to manage shrinking airspace and the wider use of military drones far from active war zones, increasing the strain on their mental health.
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