The Protection of Aircraft Act 1973 (Overseas Territories) Order 1973

Other acts endangering or likely to endanger safety of aircraft

2.—(1) It shall, subject to subsections (4) and (5) of this section, be an offence for any person unlawfully and intentionally to destroy or damage any property to which this subsection applies, or to interfere with the operation of any such property, where the destruction, damage or interference is likely to endanger the safety of aircraft in flight.

(2) The preceding subsection applies to any property used for the provision of air navigation facilities, including any land, building or ship so used, and including any apparatus or equipment so used, whether it is on board an aircraft or elsewhere.

(3) It shall also, subject to subsections (4) and (5) of this section, be an offence for any person intentionally to communicate any information which is false, misleading or deceptive in a material particular, where the communication of the information endangers the safety of an aircraft in flight or is likely to endanger the safety of aircraft in flight.

(4) It shall be a defence for a person charged with an offence under subsection (3) of this section to prove—

(a)that he believed, and had reasonable grounds for believing, that the information was true, or

(b)that, when he communicated the information, he was lawfully employed to perform duties which consisted of or included the communication of information and that the communicated the information in good faith in the performance of those duties.

(5) Subsections (1) and (3) of this section do not apply to the commission of any act unless either the act is committed in the Territory, or, where it is committed outside the Territory—

(a)the person committing it is a person to whom section 1(5) of this Act applies, or

(b)the commission of the act endangers or is likely to endanger the safety in flight of a civil aircraft registered in the Territory or chartered by demise to a lessee whose principal place of business, or (if he has no place of business) whose permanent residence, is in the Territory, or

(c)the act is committed on board a civil aircraft which is so registered or so chartered, or

(d)the act is committed on board a civil aircraft which lands in the Territory with the person who committed the act still on board.

(6) Subsection (1) of this section also does not apply to any act committed outside the Territory and so committed in relation to property which is situated outside the Territory and is not used for the provision of air navigation facilities in connection with international air navigation, unless the person committing the act is a person to whom section 1(5) of this Act applies.

(7) In this section “civil aircraft” means any aircraft other than an aircraft used in military, customs or police service.