18.—(1) This article applies to any aircraft which is registered elsewhere than in the United Kingdom when flying over the territorial waters adjacent to the United Kingdom within any part of a strait specified in Schedule 2.
(2) If an aircraft is flying solely for the purpose of continuous and expeditious transit of the strait, only the articles and Schedules specified in paragraph (3) apply to that aircraft.
(3) These articles and Schedules are—
(a)article 77 and Schedule 5 to the extent necessary for the monitoring of the appropriate distress radio frequency;
(b)article 249(2), (3), and (4) and the regulations made under that article;
(c)article 265 and Part 2 of Schedule 13; and
(d)article 266.
(4) The powers conferred by the provisions referred to in paragraph (3) may not be exercised in a way which would hamper the transit of the strait by an aircraft registered elsewhere than in the United Kingdom, but without prejudice to action needed to secure the safety of aircraft.
(5) In this article—
“transit of the strait” means overflight of the strait from an area of high seas at one end of the strait to an area of high seas at the other end, or flight to or from an area of high seas over some part of the strait for the purpose of entering, leaving or returning from a State bordering the strait; and
“an area of high seas” means any area outside the territorial waters of any State.