NEW YORK (VINnews) — In an unusual incident which occurred Monday during an El Al flight from Amsterdam to Israel, Austrian fighter jets were alerted and launched near the flight after it failed to respond to regional air traffic control.
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The airplane was cruising at 37,000 feet over Germany when air traffic controllers from Germany and Austria asked the pilot to switch to another frequency for the next part of its journey. After the pilots failed to respond to the traffic controllers on a number of different frequencies, the traffic controllers asked planes flying near the El Al flight to contact the pilot but these calls went unanswered.
During all this time, the plane continued to fly according to the flight plan without deviation, at the planned altitude and speed.
When no contact call was answered, in accordance with protocol in such cases, Austrian Eurofighter fighter jets were launched to approach the plane and make eye contact with the crew. Only after the fighter planes took off was the connection between the plane and the air traffic control resumed. The fighter jets returned to their base and the El Al plane continued on its way to Israel without any further incidents.
There was no communication between the airplane and air traffic control for about twelve minutes.
El AL responded to the report, stating that “Flight LY388 from Amsterdam to Tel Aviv passed over German and Austrian airspace as part of its flight plan. For reasons as yet uninvestigated, during the course of the travel through German and Austrian airspace no contact was made with the local air traffic controllers. After the control center and another El Al plane notified the crew of the airplane, contact was initiated with the controllers and the plane continued on its way with no delays.”
Tal Appel, a passenger on the flight, described his alarm at seeing the Austrian fighters near the plane: “We were drinking coffee and watching the mountain scenery below us and suddenly a fighter plane came nearby. My wife was a bit anxious and I took pictures of the planes. I asked myself where are we? Maybe near Russia? Will the planes force us to land? It was quite stressful. But most of the passengers didn’t know about the situation, only those in front saw the fighter jet.”
Appel said that the captain didn’t announce anything unusual on the PA system, but a pilot present on the flight said it seemed like a communication issue.
Since we’re all into condemning without hearing all the facts, why not wait to hear what happened. The pilots need to answer the question. Almost certainly the pilots radio system went through a gap spot and did not receive the messages from ground control. They are highly experienced and not careless in the slightest. ElAl is famous for having the best pilots of all commercial airlines.
All of NATO Air Forces are on high alert due to Russia war on Ukraine, including new NATO Member Finland. Sweden will join next.
If this occurred anytime over the last 22 years in the US, this plane would have been shot down. It is vital to communicate with flight controllers. These pilots should never be able to fly again.