Two pilots shocked to find German Typhoons hot on their tail April 11, 2012
Posted by Richard Clements in Military Aviation.Tags: Embraer, Eurofighter, F-2000, Luftwaffe, Phenom, QRA, Quick Reaction Alert, scramble, Typhoon
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Two pilots flying what they thought was a routine flight to Germany for servicing of their Embraer Phenom executive jet had more than they bargained for when two Luftwaffe Typhoons appeared on their wing tip.
According to The Local website, the two German Eurofighters were scrambled from Norvenich airbase after British firm Hangar 8 had reported the jet stolen and had called German Police to tell them of the theft, even if it is unclear on why they went to the German Police in the first instance.
The risk of an illegal plane, being flown by unknown pilots with an unknown aim in German airspace prompted terror fears. German Police contacted NATO who in turn contacted the Luftwaffe, which launched two Eurofighters to intercept the jet and bring it down safely.
According to The Local, a Luftwaffe spokeman said: “We received the alarm via NATO at 19:48. Within six minutes two of our Eurfighters started from Norvenich” within 30 minutes the Phenom jet was on the ground at Cologne’s Cologne-Bonn airport, where Police welcomed the two bemused Austrian pilots.
The article does not say when the QRA (Quick Reaction Alert) was launched: most probably it happened on Mar. 31, 2012.
The two hapless pilots both Austrians, said that they had taken off from Nigeria, refueled in Algeria and were heading for Cologne to take the jet for servicing.
The plane will remain grounded until the ownership can be established.
Richard Clements for TheAviationist.com
Image credit: Stefan Gygas / Luftwaffe
An Italian Typhoon intercepts a Primera Air B-737 July 11, 2009
Posted by David Cenciotti in Aviation, Italian Air Force, Military Aviation, non-military aviation.Tags: Aeronautica Militare, AMI, B.737, Eurofighter, F-2000, Fiumicino, Grosseto, GX362, interception, ItAF, Italian Air Force, Primera Air, scramble, TF-JXG, Typhoon
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On Jul. 10, 2009, a Primera Air Boeing 737-700, with registration TF-JXG, flying as GX-362 flight, from Zakinthos (Greece) to Dublin (Ireland), with 153 passengers and 6 crew members, was escorted by a single F-2000 (not two as some sources reported) of the 4° Stormo of the Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force, ItAF) after the crew requested an emergency landing in Rome Fiumicino airport, due to a technical problem. The airplane landed safely on runway 16L, that had been kept sterile for 40 minutes for the emergency arrival with all other traffic “diverted” on runway 16R, at 16.51LT. According to the information released by the ItAF, “Typhoon 99″ was ordered to intercept the aircraft, after the B737 had made an unauthorised descent from cruising altitude to FL200. The Italian authorities initially requested the flight to divert to Naples airport, but the commander refused to land in Capodichino as it required a longer runway. Since L’Aquila and Rome were interested in that day by the G8 summit and a NFZ (No Fly Zone) was active, the Italian COFA (Comando Operativo Forze Aeree) scrambled a Typhoon to intercept the “zombie”.
Image courtesy of Alenia Aeronautica
Another supersonic scramble October 10, 2008
Posted by David Cenciotti in Aviation, F-104, Grosseto, Italian Air Force, Military Aviation.Tags: 37 Stormo, 4 Stormo, Aeronautica Militare, airbase, AMI, Cameri, Cervia, Eurofighter, F-104, F-16, F-2000, F16, fighter, Fighting Falcon, Gioia del Colle, Grazzanise, Grosseto, Intercept, interceptor, Istrana, ItAF, Italian Air Force, Italian Vipers, Lockheed Martin, Mach, Mach 1, Peace Caesar, QRA, Quick Reaction Alert, Rimini, scramble, Sigonella, sonic boom, Spillone, Starfighter, supersonic, supersonic speed, Trapani, Typhoon, Viper, Zipper
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Even if in the F-104 age there were many scrambles, I remember that only a few times the interceptor “broke” the sound barrier during the mission. Even in the post 911 period, until 2004, under highened security measures, the QRA (Quick Reaction Alert) aircraft rarely performed supersonic interceptions (or at least the went through Mach 1 above the sea and were not heard from the people on the ground).
In the last year at least three times the fighter scrambled to intercept a “zombie” performed a supersonic acceleration causing a loud sonic boom that was heard by the population.
The last occurrence was on Oct 8 when 2 F-16 of the 37° Stormo based in Trapani were scrambled at 07.18 LT from the COFA/CAOC5 to intercept an unknown aircraft flying without the FPL (Flight Plan).
The Vipers on alert took off in 6 minutes and were vectored to intercept the unknown aircraft that despite being identified by the ATC (Air Traffic Control) had provided unclear information and had decided to change its routing after being informed of the imminent interception by the Italian Air Defense. At around 40.000 feet above the Gulf of Naples the two F-16 went supersonic. At 07.45LT the 2 F-16 ADF reached the Byelorussian Ilyushin 76, flying from Sebha, Libya, to Linz, Austria, between Foggia and Napoli, and escorted it until it exited the Italian airspace, above the Adriatic, North of the Tremiti Islands.
On Sept. 16, two F-2000 of the 4° Stormo, based in Grosseto, had departed at 18.45LT to intercept a Czech Boeing 737 from Tunis to Praha, that had lost the radio contact with the ATC flying abeam Rome. During the initial phase of the interception the two Eurofighter accelerated above Mach 1 causing a sonic boom that was heard from many miles away. The two fighters did not complete the mission since the civilian aircraft was able to establish the contact with the ACC and the F-2000 were cleared to RTB (Return To Base).
On May 30, two F-16s belonging to the 37° Stormo of Trapani were scrambled to intercept the Lufthansa flight LH8619T, that was flying from Milan Linate to Athinai, and at 08.29 LT lost the radio contact with Padova ATC. The QRA flight of Southern Italy was immediately scrambled to intercept and escort the civilian A300 and two armed “Vipers”, just after take off, were cleared to accelerate to supersonic speed in order to reach the “zombie” in the shortest time possible. The consequent shock wave caused a loud “bang” that was heard from the ground.
The two fighters were cruising above Mach 1, when the Lufthansa flight was able to establish the radio contact with “Brindisi Control”, and they were ordered to “skip it”, to slow down to subsonic speed and RTB. The F-16s made a fuel stop to Gioia del Colle before proceeding to Trapani.
As I have already explained here, unlike it happened in the past, when there were many bases sharing the QRA duties in Northern and Southern Italy (at the end of the ’80s they were: Istrana, Cameri, Rimini, Grosseto, Grazzanise, Gioia del Colle, Trapani and Sigonella, where a cell was deployed on rotation) the current Italian Air Defense set up foresees two QRA (Norther and Southern), each made of a flight of 2 fighters ready for departure in 15 minutes: 2 fighters in either Grosseto (9° Gruppo, equipped with the F-2000 Typhoon) or Cervia (23° Gruppo, equipped with the F-16ADF); and 2 aircraft in Trapani (where two Squadrons share the alert shifts, the 10° and 18° Gruppo).
It is normal that to intercept a “zombie” asap, possibly departing from an airbase far away (in more than 3-5 minutes like the F-104 was able to do), the fighters are compelled to fly supersonic. Since both Cervia and Trapani are going to cease their QRA shifts with the expiration of the Peace Caesar programme, from 2010 – 2011 there will only be two Eurofighter MOBs (Main Operating Bases) fulfilling the Air Defense duties with the Typhoon: Grosseto (9° Gruppo and 20 OCU) and Gioia del Colle (12° and 10° Gruppo).
So, the situation is not going to change in the near future. Actually, it was not completely different before, since there were always 2 bases with QRA cells (one in the North and one in the South with another two in 2 hours stand by alert) and it could happen that a flight of F-104 from Grazzanise had to intercept a Tu-16 above the Adriatic Sea. However, there were many other airbases distributed on the peninsula: it often happened that the alert one was also near (or the nearest) to the “zombie”, thus interception took place in short time and without the need of supersonic accelerations.
A RAF C-130 intercepted by 2 ItAF F-16s June 24, 2008
Posted by David Cenciotti in Aviation, F-104, Italian Air Force, Military Aviation.Tags: airbase, c-130, Cameri, Cervia, F-104, F-16, F-2000, fighter, Gioia del Colle, Grazzanise, Grosseto, Lyneham, RAF, Rimini, Royal Air Force, scramble, Sigonella, Trapani, Typhoon
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On June 20, a RAF C-130 flying from Lyneham to Cyprus, was intercepted by a flight of 2 F-16s of the 37° Stormo. The British aircraft had lost the radio contact with the Italian Air Traffic Control and, consequently, the COFA (Comando Operativo delle Forze Aeree)/CAOC 5 at Poggio Renatico ordered the “scramble” of the Southern QRA based in Trapani to intercept the aircraft. The two fighters, departed at 13.11L, reached the British Hercules over Rosarno (Reggio Calabria), Southern Italy, visually identified and escorted it until 13.34L when they were cleared to RTB (Return To Base). In the meanwhile, the C-130 had been able to established again a positive radio contact with the ATC and was cleared to destination via FPL (Flight Plan) route.
It was the 6th scramble of the 2008, a routine Air Defense mission that from the beginning of the year is flown again by two aircraft on H24 alert (for a certain period, the Air Defense duties involved only a single fighter for the Northern QRA and another one for the Southern one).
Unlike it happened some years ago (in the F-104 era during the Cold War), when there were many bases sharing the QRA duties in Northern and Southern Italy (at the end of the ’80s they were: Istrana, Cameri, Rimini, Grosseto, Grazzanise, Gioia del Colle, Trapani and Sigonella, where a cell was deployed on rotation) the current Italian Air Defense set up foresees two QRA (Norther and Southern), each made of a flight of 2 fighters ready for departure in 15 minutes: 2 fighters in either Grosseto (9° Gruppo, equipped with the F-2000 Typhoon) or Cervia (23° Gruppo, equipped with the F-16ADF); and 2 aircraft in Trapani (where two Squadrons share the alert shifts, the 10° and 18° Gruppo). It is still unclear how the Air Defense configuration will change in the 2009-2010 period, when the ItaF will leave Cervia and Trapani with the disbandment of both the 23° and 18° Gruppo and the relocation of the 10° Gruppo to Gioia del Colle. According to the current plans, there will only be two Eurofighter MOBs (Main Operating Bases) fulfilling the Air Defense duties with the Typhoon: Grosseto (9° Gruppo and 20 OCU) and Gioia del Colle (12° and 10° Gruppo).
Supersonic scramble for the Italian F-16s May 30, 2008
Posted by David Cenciotti in Italian Air Force, Military Aviation.Tags: 37 Stormo, Aeronautica Militare, F-16, Gioia del Colle, Lufthansa, scramble, Trapani
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Today, two Trapani based F-16s belonging to the 37 Stormo were scrambled to intercept a Lufthansa flight transiting through the Italian airspace. LH8619T, was flying from Milan Linate to Athinai, when at 08.29 LT it lost the radio contact with Padova ATC. The QRA flight of Southern Italy was immediately scrambled to intercept and escort the civilian A300 and two armed “Vipers”, just after take off, were cleared to accelerate to supersonic speed in order to reach the “zombie” as soon as possible. The consequent shock wave caused a loud “bang” that was heard from many miles away. The two fighters were cruising above Mach 1, when the Lufthansa flight was able to establish the radio contact with “Brindisi Control”, and they were ordered to “skip it”, to slow down to subsonic speed and RTB (Return To Base). The F-16s made a fuel stop to Gioia del Colle before proceeding to Trapani.
This was the 5th scramble of 2008.
Another Scramble for the Italian F-16s April 23, 2008
Posted by David Cenciotti in Italian Air Force, Military Aviation.Tags: c-130, Cervia, F-16, interception, QRA, scramble
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On Apr. 18, a Kuwaitian C-130 UK-bound, coming from Athens and crossing the Italian airspace was intercepted by two F-16s of the 5th Stormo. The Italian fighters took off from Cervia, intercepted the “zombie” over PNZ (Ponza) radiobeacon at 08.45L, identified it and escorted it until the boundaries of the Italian airspace.
On some forums and mailing lists, commenting a previous Scramble, people wondered why an aircraft flying througn multiple NATO countries was intercepted intercepted and escorted only from Italy.
As I’ve explained a FPL must contain a diplomatic clearance to cross some countries’ airspaces. The diplo clearance is issued by each country individually so a flight can have a valid one to cross a
country and an expired one to cross another one. At least in Italy, if a flight has no diplo clearance, the QRA (Quick Reaction Alert) will be scrambled to visually identify the traffic. That’s why scambles are not at all rare things.
Two ItAF F-16s intercept an Ukrainan liner April 7, 2008
Posted by David Cenciotti in Italian Air Force, Military Aviation, Spring Flag.Tags: Aeronautica Militare, AMI, Cervia, F-16, Intercept, ItAF, scramble, Spring Flag, Trapani, Tu-134, Tupolev
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While being widely involved in the Ex. Spring Flag 2008, the Italian Air Force ensures the SSSA (Servizio Sorveglianza Spazio Aereo, Airspace Surveillance Service) with its F-16s and F-2000A ready to takeoff in scramble (alert takeoff). On Apr 7, during the first day of the SF08, an Ukrainan Tupolev 134/A was intercepted by two F-16ADF of the 5 Stormo of the ItAF. The two “Vipers” were scrambled because the Tupolev had entered the Italian airspace without a valid diplomatic clearance. The F-16s belonging to the 23rd Gruppo QRA departed from Cervia at 13.55L, intercepted the Tupolev to perform a Visual Identification (VID) and escorted the “zombie” until 25 NM SW of ALG, outside the Italian airspace.
Two 23rd Gruppo’s F-16s, temporary deployed to Trapani airbase, play also an important role in the Spring Flag as part of the Opfor party along with 6 Vipers of the locally-based 18th Gruppo of the 37th Stormo.
The following pictures courtesy of Lt. Fabrizio Nitti
Close encounters (snapshots from the Cold War) September 7, 2007
Posted by David Cenciotti in Aviation, F-104, Italian Air Force, Military Aviation.Tags: Cold War, Eurofighter, fighter pilot, scramble
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As written in a previous post (Typhoon Block 5 and Cold War alert) on Aug. 17th, Russia begun 20 hours long strategic flights around the globe, like those carried out during the Cold War. So far, no Russian Tu-95 has been reported in the Mediterranean Sea and no Scramble has taken place from the Italian interceptor’s airbases even if yesterday, FRANCE-PRESSE, reported that Norwegian and British interceptors scrambled on Sept. 6 to intercept 8 Tu-95 Russian bombers detected in international airspace over the Barents Sea. Sky News said the Russian aircraft did a U-turn when approached by the fighters. According to Putin’s statements, this kind of activities (that on Aug. 17th involved 14 aircraft departing from 7 airbases) is carried out by the Russian Air Force in strict coordination with Russian Navy and, consequently, it is not possible to put aside the idea that some bomber or reconnaissance aircraft will fly along the Italian airspace’s border in the near future. As recalled by Col. Agrusti in the Memories of a fighter pilot article, those flights frequent until the first ’90s. As a proof, there are many pictures depicting Italian F-104 flying along side Soviet or Libyan aircraft in the Adriatic, Ionian or Tyrrhenian Sea. I was given by the Italian Air Force some of those pictures during the preparation of my article, photos that were published with my text on both Aeronautica & Difesa and Air Forces Monthly. Here you can find some of them. Quality is obviously poor, since the majority of these pictures were taken with hand-held cameras, whose films were first developed then copied many times to be released to the press. Nonetheless, since they are the official proof of the interceptions and close encounters taking place in the international airspace in the ’80s, I have uploaded the same pictures used for my articles that I was given by the Italian Air Force (that owns copyright for them) in the page ”Zombies”.
Another interesting picture is available also on the webpage of the 12th Gruppo, that will receive the Eurofighter on next Oct. 1st 2007 at Gioia del Colle, at the following address: http://www.glistrali.net/zoom.asp?image=/public/gallery/25.jpg.
Grosseto airbase August 30, 2007
Posted by David Cenciotti in Digital Photography, F-104, Grosseto, Italian Air Force, Military Aviation, Panoramic Photography, Photography.Tags: Eurofighter, fighter pilot, scramble
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Grosseto airbase has changed a lot in the last 10 years. As described in my previous posts, today the airport it is the MOB of the ItAF Eurofighters (the Gioia del Colle and its 12th Gruppo/36th Stormo will be delivered their first Typhoon on Oct. 1st 2007). Grosseto is the homebase of two squadrons: the 20th OCU (Operational Convertion Unit) and 9th Gruppo all-weather interceptors. Aircraft of both gruppi are currently recovered in the new hangars located in the Western area of the field, opposite the former 20th Gruppo shelters and aprons. In order to understand how this important base has transformed in the last years, read the report I wrote in Y2K, dealing with Grosseto and the two gruppi equipped at that time with the F/TF-104 Starfighter: Grosseto airbase, home of the 4th Stormo.
Grosseto 19.08.04 Close up of the cockpit of the last TF-104G-M Special Colour of the 20th Gruppo. This is my very first “panoramic close up” picture of an aircraft.
Grosseto 19.08.04 The last F-104s of the 9th Gruppo on alert during one of the last QRA shifts
Typhoon Block 5 and Cold War alert August 23, 2007
Posted by David Cenciotti in Digital Photography, F-104, Grosseto, Italian Air Force, Military Aviation.Tags: Cold War, Eurofighter, fighter pilot, scramble
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Claudio Carretta left an interesting comment on my post Eurofighter Typhoon activity at Grosseto advising that among the aircraft spotted on Aug. 06th, MM7285 “4-16″ was the first Eurofighter Typhoon Block 5 delivered to the Italian Air Force. I consequently checked again the pictures and finally noticed the searching head of the IRST sensor, located on the left of the nose, just in front of the cockpit. I had a glance on that area of the aircraft for a few seconds during base turn and since the aircraft was still distant, I didn’t notice the “distinctive sign” the first time I saw the images (in order to make them well visible, I had to crop sensibly the pictures below).
On the same day (Aug. 6th), RAF took the first two Block 5 Typhoons on charge. The aicraft were delivered to the XI Sqn at Coningsby, a unit that on Aug. 17th launched its first genuine scramble since assuming Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) duties on June 29th 2007, to intercept a Russian “Bear” over the North Atlantic Ocean. The “close encouter” with the strategic bomber took place on the same day President Vladimir Putin said that Russia has resumed the long-range flights of its strategic bombers that were suspended in 1992. According to him, those tours of duty will be conducted regularly and on strategic scale and, as a consequence, Russian Tu-95s, Tu-160s and Tu-22s are expected to fly across the globe the same routes routinely flown during the Cold War. Number of interceptions is already increasing: on Aug. 8th two Tu-95 undertook a 13 hours round trip from Blagoveshchensk base to ”visit” Guam, in the Pacific Ocean, for the first time since the end of the Cold War; and in May and July, British Tornado F3s and Norwegian F-16s were scrambled to intercept and escort Russian Bears flying in the international airspace next to the countries’ airspaces.
4th Stormo Eurofighters took over air defense of the Italian airspace (along with F-16s of the 5th and 37th Stormo) since December 16th 2005. The first real interception took place on March 13th 2007 when two Eurofighters (already in flight) were vectored by the Air Defense radar to identify and shadow a Tunisian A-320 flying in Southern Italy that had lost radio contact with the civilian ATC. So far, they have never been scrambled to intercept any Russian bomber, something that was frequent during the Cold War, when ItAF F-104s were often scrambled to intercept the long-range bombers as described in the article Memories of a fighter pilot.
