Several fighter jets rose on Sunday to escort the unmanned Cessna across the Baltic Sea. With a procedure that is also used in Austria about once a week.
At the air show AIRPOWER in Zeltweg, two Eurofighters of the German army only showed how they would intercept a plane over the weekend – only 24 hours later the real work happened over the Baltic Sea. This started with a banality: a COMLOSS, or a failure of the radio link.
On average one session per week
“In itself nothing that I would initially worry about,” explains Gerfried Promberger, commander of the Austrian Air Force. About once a week Eurofighters have to take off from Zeltweg because civilian pilots have forgotten the correct frequency or have a radio defect. “In such a case, we calculate the interception probability, put the pilots on standby or immediately sound the alarm,” says Promberger. If the latter is the case, the civilian aircraft is approached at supersonic speed.
Contact via emergency frequency
“First one fighter jet comes into firing position, the second comes to the left of the cockpit and checks if he can see anything in the plane,” explains Promberger. An emergency frequency would continue to be attempted to make contact.
“Other ways to intervene”
Unfortunately, if everyone on board is really unconscious, you can only see the fuel run out in such an air emergency. “Only if the aircraft were to fly towards a metropolitan area are there other options to intervene. However, these are subject to secrecy,” says Promberger. “It would not be possible to influence the course – and thus the crash site – of the machine from the outside more than through flight maneuvers.”
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
