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SYDNEY - The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) pilot at the controls when smoke filled Prime Minister John Howard's plane over Iraq says the incident was caused by a hydraulic fluid leak in an engine.
Flight Lieutenant Ben Poxon told News Limited how he coolly carried out an emergency landing as fumes wafted through the cabin last weekend, engulfing Mr Howard and defence force chief Angus Houston.
"One of them pays me, and the other makes decisions about my future," Lieutenant Poxon, 27, said from the RAAF's secret airbase in the Middle East.
"Having them on board was obviously a concern."
Lt Poxon said he was aware of theories that the whole event had been engineered as a public relations stunt.
"You would have needed a pretty good Hollywood producer to create all that, although the PM running out of the plane kind of made for a good scene," he said.
- AAP
