An Airliner was intercepted by a Fighter Jet

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

An airliner en route between Finland and Spain was intercepted by fighter jets over the Czech Republic on Friday.

According to aviation website aeroinside.com, the Vueling Airbus A320 was flying from Helsinski to Barcelona when it lost communication.

Flight VY-8549 was about to enter Czech airspace when the crew did not report on Czech air traffic control frequencies. Calls to the aircraft on the emergency frequency were also unanswered.

Two Gripen fighter aircraft were dispatched to intercept the airliner.

After reaching the aircraft, there was still no response until about three minutes later, when communication was restored on the emergency frequency.

The flight crew reported they had difficulties contacting the next sector. After being told the correct frequency, communication with Praha Control was established about 15 minutes after the aircraft entered Czech airspace.

The aircraft was handed off to Rhein radar and continued to Barcelona for a safe landing about two hours later.

Source: castanet