Alleged plane crashes and a series of “emergencies” kept Tyrol’s control center, Austro Control and emergency services on their toes on Thursday afternoon. After repeated distress signals from an unregistered flying object, major searches were launched in the Tyrolean lowlands. Fortunately, everything turned out differently in the end.
At about 12:00, a 60-year-old German took off with his glider from the airport in Langkampfen (Kufstein district): The pilot carried out all security checks beforehand and, of course, also checked the so-called ELT system, the radio transmitter, with which persons who found to be localized.
System was activated unnoticed
And this is exactly what should cause a lot of excitement for the next few hours: “According to current knowledge, this system was probably manually activated for permanent operation by vibration during the take-off maneuver without the pilot noticing,” police reported.
The result: At around 4.30 pm, the Tyrol control center reported a possible crash of an unregistered German aircraft in the Hinteres Sonnwendjoch area of the Thiersee municipality. At about the same time, the state control center reported another alleged crash of a machine at the Feldalphorn in Hopfgarten.
Contact not possible
“Because the ELT system was not registered, it was not possible to contact the pilot and give a more accurate description of the flying object. Therefore, a search with three helicopters was launched. While the search was still underway, Austro Control received further distress signals. These were also flown away, but the search was negative,” the researchers continued.
Pilot requested to land
Just before 6 p.m. the all-clear was given: employees of Langkampfen airport were able to give the distress signal to an approaching glider pilot. “The pilot was then immediately asked to land. It turned out that that the distress signal was only sounded for technical reasons.” The searches could therefore be aborted.
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.
